The Definition of Life and Love
by Den Scurman
Summary: A definition is the formal statement of the meaning or significance of a word, phrase, or idiom, but what's the use of knowing it's meaning if you don't know it's significance. This is the story of a girl's journey from meaning to significance. Takes place 2 years after "Rhyme and Reason." Rated T for character deaths and a hard road to healing. Complete! :D
1. Catastrophe and Mourning

Key:

 _Narrator speaks_

"person speaks"

[Bob/CHF speaks]

'thinking'

(B-D) - scene change

 _ **The Definition of Life and Love**_

 _It's a bright and beautiful day in Fair City, where all is right with the world, except for one place…_

She stood there, barely holding herself together. Violet and Scoops behind her in the church pew, comforting her as much as they could. Her dad, Tim Botsford, his hand on her shoulder as they watched the proceedings. A sob racked through her once again as the pastor spoke. She still couldn't believe what had happened, it seemed like years ago, but it was only last week when her life changed for the worse, and it was all her fault.

(B-D)

 _Last week, Wordgirl and her sidekick, Captain Huggyface, were on patrol when they heard a scream coming right at them._

Wordgirl stops in mid-flight as her hearing picked up something.

"What is that? I hear screaming."

[Becky, you have incoming!]

"Huh? WHOA!" Wordgirl exclaimed as she dodged a car flying by her. She just happened to notice people in it as it flew by. "Come on, Huggy. We have to save them!"

Wordgirl had been at this for four years, now, and she was adapting to the burgeoning changes that come from early adolescence. A little bit of development here, some more critical thinking there, and she occasionally thanked God that she didn't seem to have the same monthly issues as Earth girls did…yet. She had also hit a bit of a growth spurt as well, as she was now almost eye to nose with her mother. And with this growth came some adjustments to how she used her powers. They had stabilized quite a bit over the years. Her flight speed, in this case, as well as her maneuverability, had their limits raised by at least 25% as Dr. Tubing's tests indicate. With this increase in ability, she was easily able to catch the flying car without hurting the people inside.

"Are you folks Okay?" Wordgirl asked as she gently placed the car on the ground.

"We'll be fine, Wordgirl," answered the obviously shaken father as he glanced back at his two children in the back. They had a grand time flying just then, "but you'd better get to the bridge…"

"HEEELLLP!" yelled a not-so-random civilian. "Some Viking is doing something to the bridge. Wait, is this the police station?"

"You never change, do you?" smiled Wordgirl.

"I'm just unlucky, I guess."

"I'm on it. The police station is that way."

"Thanks." He starts running again, screaming help along the way.

Wordgirl smiled as she and Huggy made their way to the bridge.

She glanced at Huggy. "He said that a Viking was on the bridge. It can't be Nocan, so who could it…" She was interrupted by some sonic waves glancing her left side. "Oof," she grimaced. "Okay, that narrows it down."

[Whammer?]

"Yeah, the Whammer. You ready?"

[Let's do this.]

They arrived just in time to move another car from being blown away from the seemingly random whams flying in every direction. She quickly took stock of the situation, realizing that she'd have to get him away from the bridge that was currently suffering from a traffic jam.

"Huggy, execute plan number 835."

[Roger that!]

Huggy hopped off of her shoulder just as she accelerated into the surprisingly solid form of the Whammer.

"WHAM, that hurt. Oh, hey Wordgirl. What's whammin'?"

"What are you doing, Whammer? Can't you see all the cars on this bridge?"

"Wham, I do. I just wanted to see how far I could wham them."

"THERE ARE PEOPLE IN THOSE CARS!"

"Wha?" Whammer glanced about, only just now noticing the frightened looks of the people inside the cars he had previously used his powers on. "What are they doing in there? I thought I told them to wham out of their cars."

"Did you even give them a chance to get out?"

He placed his chin on his fist, thinking. Wordgirl nodded, and Huggy leaped onto the Whammer's back and pulled the front of his helmet down, covering his eyes, a tried and true tactic that for some reason kept working.

"Why is it so wham all of a sudden?" he shouted as he struggled to get his helmet off. Wordgirl took the opportunity to tackle Whammer and tried to lift him off the ground, hoping to relocate the fight to a safer area. Unfortunately, Whammer had managed to right his helmet just in time to catch her point blank with a fist full of WHAM. Fortunately, one of Wordgirl's increase capabilities was her heightened pain tolerance, as well as endurance, thus she was able to recover quickly. She was faster, stronger, tougher than ever before, but she had forgotten something as she rushed him once more. She had forgotten just how strong the Whammer really was. He braced himself and grabbed with his oversized hands, each glowing with power. "Nice try, Wordgirl," he smiled, "but you ran right into my new move."

Wordgirl struggled against his strength. "And what move is that?"

"The WHAM GRAB! WHAAAaaaaaaaMMM!"

Whammer's hands glowed fiercely and the sonic waves bounced between his hands and through Wordgirl, causing her to scream in pain. What neither had noticed was that the bridge really didn't like all the damage that it was taking, and it was only a matter of time before it could take no more.

About fifty yards away, a car whose path was recently cleared minutes before by an errant sonic wave, aligned itself to face the battle. The boy in the back was trying to encourage his mother to help Wordgirl somehow. The mother, determination in her eyes, told her son to buckle up. Hearing the click of the seatbelt, she floored the gas pedal and picked up a good amount of speed. His back was turned toward them, so she had the element of surprise. She honked just before impact, gaining his attention at the last possible moment, allowing Wordgirl to break his grip as the car hit him square in the back. The car wouldn't be going anywhere for a while, but her mission was accomplished. Whammer lay face down on the ground for a moment as Wordgirl hovered over him, Huggy checking on him from behind. He looked up, smirking.

"Just kidding. WHAM!" He used his sonic blast to propel him up into Wordgirl, trying to grab her again, but they both saw the huge hole he left in the bridge where he was, the car that had hit him had already fallen through. "Uh, oh."

"NOOO!" Wordgirl shouted as she dove after the now familiar vehicle. She couldn't hear the people inside, and the car had almost hit the water below before she was able to roughly grab the car just before impact. She brought the car back up to the edge of the bridge, panting as she placed it down. The airbag had deployed so she couldn't see the driver's face, but she recognized that hair style anywhere. Tearing off the door, she bit down on her panic and gently tilted back the driver's head, confirming her fear. There sat Sally Botsford, face bloodied and unconscious. In the back seat was TJ, Sally's son and Wordgirl's brother, slumped in the back seat. She used her super hearing to find their heartbeats, but heard nothing. "No," she whispered as she took off her glove so she could find a pulse. Again, nothing. Tears swelled in her eyes as she thought the worst. She vaguely noticed a civilian woman running toward her, but her focus went back to the hole. She hovered over to the blue cloth that had caught her attention. It was a piece of Huggy's uniform. She peered over the edge to see Huggy floating face up in the water, his eyes closed. She also noticed some red coloring growing around him. She flew down to retrieve her sidekick, but soon saw that it was too late. It was all too easy to see the blunt force trauma covering his tattered body. He must have been right behind Whammer when he propelled himself up to Wordgirl, and she was so focused on the falling car that she hadn't even seen Huggy fall. She lay her best friend solemnly on the ground.

"What happened?" asked Whammer, concerned as he slowly approached Wordgirl.

She stared at her friend, her advisor, her comfort. She looked back to the car where the woman she somewhat recognized and just finished trying to perform first aid on her mom and brother, but saw her head bowed down in despair. Now the tears broke forth, streaming down her face. They were gone, all three of them. Most of her family, gone in a moment. Whammer took a half step back as Wordgirl snapped a glare at him, her eyes filled with rage as her shoulders shook from the emerging sobs.

"You…" she whispered, pointing at him. Whammer stopped. "You killed them."

"I-I what?"

"YOU KILLED THEM!" she screamed hysterically. "YOU KILLED MY FAMILY!"

Whammer, needless to say, was shocked. "You're what?"

The next thing Whammer knew was that there was a massive flash of pain. From his former wrestling days he knew that he at least had a broken nose, but that was almost literally knocked to the back of his mind as that pain happened again and again. He didn't even notice that he had hit the ground after the second hit. He blinked through the stars to see a pair of red-gloved fists coming at his face again and again, he had never seen anyone so angry in his life. Speaking of which, he didn't think he would be around for much longer considering that she was literally pounding him into a crater in the ground. Lucky for him, though, her berserker rage was spent. She was sitting on his chest, right hand on his neck, the other cocked back for a final punch, likely ready to end him where he was.

"I'll kill you," Wordgirl sobbed as her cocked fist shook, anger once again fueling her strength. "I'LL KILL YOU!"

"Wordgirl, don't!" yelled an outside voice.

The crater they were in was only a few feet deep, but it sounded like she was right next to her. She looked toward the voice to find the woman that had tried to save her family. She had a rather large upper torso, well built, and you could tell that it was from her trunk rather than her chest. She wore a blue button-down dress and her hands were bloodied from when she tried to save her friend.

"Stay out of this!" Wordgirl cried.

"Don't do this, Wordgirl," the woman pleaded. "Don't lower yourself to his level."

"He killed my family," she sobbed, fist still shaking. Whammer was barely functional at this point, just barely able to hear what was going on.

"I know, I saw everything. I'm sorry, Wordgirl, but you do not want to do this. You don't want to have blood on your hands, like he does."

Wordgirl looked back at Whammer, rage still on her face, the fingers of her fist flexing themselves. She totally wanted to follow through and kill the man who had killed her family. She looked him in the eye, seeing fear and anguish. Whammer barely managed to whisper something to her, but her hearing picked it up.

"I'm sorry."

That was it. That was absolutely it. She closed her eyes and opened her hand, dropping the Whammer to the ground, where he finally lost the will to fight the oncoming darkness. Wordgirl turned to the woman that had given her the opportunity to avoid the darkness, tears blurring her vision. The woman embraced the girl, comforting her as much as she could. Her mind finally registered that she knew this woman as Claire, her mother's best friend.

"Just let it out, now," said Claire as she held Wordgirl tightly. "Just let it out."

And she did. Sirens could be heard coming in from the distance, but neither of them noticed as they mourned the loss of their friends and family.

(B-D)

 _And back to present day…*sniff* Sorry, it's just hard to remember that day, the day Fair City cried for their hero._

Becky stood with her father as the pastor was finishing the graveside service. Before them were two caskets containing the remains of Sally and TJ Botsford. One could barely notice the scratches that had once littered their faces, and both were adorned with smiles. Becky had broken down completely when they closed the caskets for the last time before leaving the church, and now they were being lowered into their final resting place. She flashed back to the small ceremony they held for Bob several days before, and Violet was by her side instantly, Scoops being on the other side of her, both hugging her as she collapsed once again. Another set of arms surrounded her from behind, being careful as they wrapped themselves around her. It was an awkward hug, but it was still comfort from her other friend. Ever since the accident, he had been by every day, trying in his own way to help her grieve while his mother helped Tim with the final arrangements. It was strange for all of them, but he did seem sincere in his actions. Becky just didn't have the strength to rebuff him after what had happened.

"We're here for you, Becky,' said Violet, frying for her distraught friend.

Scoops, for once had no words. He had covered events like this before, but this hit far too close to home for him. All he could offer was his hug and support.

The boy awkwardly hugging her from behind gave her a slightly tighter hug.

"I'm so sorry, Becky."

Becky managed to pull herself together just long enough to thank her friends. "Thank you, Violet, Scoops, Tobey."

(B-D)

Author's Note: So, this my first time writing a fanfic in four years, and this is by far the darkest thing I've ever needed to write. This idea popped into my head and hasn't left me alone since. I was hoping that this would be four chapters, but of course it'll be more as I'm already splitting things up as events unfold. I've never done dark before (it's opposite my nature), but I do have this planned out to a possible ending at least. Let me know what you guys think.


	2. Consultation and Reunion

Chp 2 – Consultation and Reunion

 _It's been a week since the funeral, and no one has even seen Wordgirl at all. Surprisingly the villains of the city didn't try to take advantage of her disappearance. In fact, it looks like they're having a meeting right now…_

The run down motel at the edge of town was not much to look at. Sure, it could use some repair, and it wasn't close to any major roadways. Nobody really stayed there that often, either. It was the perfect place for a secret meeting, except for the open parking lot where all manner of crazy looking vehicles were parked…and apparently a blimp. Inside the large conference room, the emergency meeting of the Evil Villains Association was underway.

"Alright, everyone, please be seated, sit down, and take a seat. This emergency meeting will begin, start, and commence now."

The president of the association, Lady Redundant Woman, didn't have to wait long for everyone to settle down. They all knew what they were there for, and many of them wanted to get this over with.

"Let's get down to business, cut to the chase, the bottom line," she began. "We appreciate, are grateful for, and welcome the fact that none of you have tried anything big since the Whammer incident two weeks ago. As you all are now aware of, been informed about, and know, that the Whammer has been in solitary confinement until his transfer to a high security laboratory out of the state. Due to the severity, grimness, and austerity of his actions, he will not be handled by local police, but exported, extradited, and removed from Fair City by the FBI as of the end of the month, which is two weeks from now. A proposal has been put forth to curtail, minimize, and reduce any criminal activity until after the transfer."

"Why should we do that?" asked Mr. Big. "So he did something stupid, why should we stop our own plans for his mistake?"

"Because, big shot, is that he committed a very serious crime, and the feds are watching this city, now," answered Dr. Two Brains. "I may be bold enough to challenge Wordgirl, but the federal government? No-oh-oh thank you."

"Exactly, correct, affirmative," said Lady Redundant Woman. "Thanks to the complexity, difficulty, and intricacy of the paperwork regarding the prison system, the feds don't know that there are criminals with super powers, here. I believe that we would all like it to stay that way, leave things alone, and keep the status quo."

"That's pretty well thought out," commented Chuck, the Evil Sandwich Making Guy. "Who came up with that idea?"

"We have Tobey to thank for that," said Granny May. "Thanks to his mama working at the DA's office, he was able to erase any mention of our powers in their computers."

"They barely even knew they were hacked," smirked Tobey. Then he frowned, "unfortunately that was the last time mother would take me to 'Take your child to work Day.' I rather enjoyed not having to go to that pitiful excuse of a school for a change."

"So let me get this straight," mumbled Br. Big, "in order for us to stay off of the feds' radar, we can't take advantage of Wordgirl's absence?"

"We may have bigger issues than that," said Dr. Two-Brains. "We all read that paper about the bridge. Anybody would be all torn up inside after something like that. Hard to believe, sometimes, but remember that she's still just a 12-year-old girl. She was pretty close to the former DA, and the DA's son was part of her fan club."

"President," corrected Tobey, "or so he claimed."

"Right. The girl's gotta be an emotional wreck right now. We shouldn't push her anytime soon, either."

"Why not?" asked Chuck.

"Geez, you people need to read some comics. This is the perfect time for her to get all dark and vengeful on everybody, especially if she blames herself, which she most likely is."

"What do you mean by vengeful?" asked Chuck. "She's not like that at all. Um, what does vengeful mean, again?"

"It means revengeful, or spiteful, which is the opposite of what she was before this incident," defined Tobey, now standing. "My mother told me what happened on that bridge. She was there. She did everything she could to save Mrs. Botsford and her son. Even though I have no real attachment to either of them, I did mourn their loss" he glanced aside. "Anyway, she told me that Wordgirl was ready to kill Whammer, and not just for the Botsfords, but remember, her sidekick died there, too. If my mother wasn't there to talk her down, she might have finished him off for good. If that's not a recipe for going to the dark side, I don't know what is."

Everyone stilled after hearing this. They had read about it in the paper, but nobody knew about those details.

"Um, wow," whispered Mr. Big. "That's…that's pretty big. Are you sure…?"

"My mother was in hysterics when she came home that night. I haven't seen her cry like that since, THAT day." Tobey stared off, slightly raising his now shaking fist.

"What day?" asked Ms. Question.

"Wha…" Tobey blinked. "Never mind. Suffice it to say, my mother doesn't cry. Well, it's very rare, anyway, but she could barely keep herself together after that. I had to take care of her for two days after that. I can't imagine how Wordgirl is handling so much loss all by herself."

"I motion that we send a couple of us to talk to Wordgirl, to make sure that she's okay." Everyone stared at Granny May. "What? That girl needs someone to talk to about this. If she doesn't, she might come back a lot meaner and less caring than before."

"I second that," blurted out Dr. Two Brains. His mouse brain glowed slightly. "What do I mean I second that? Wait, yeah, I'll explain later…" He just now noticed everyone staring at him. "Sorry, distracted. I do second that."

"The proposal, agenda item, and proposition has been presented and seconded, for some reason."

"So who's going to talk to Wordgirl?" questioned Ms. Question.

(B-D)

 _The following day, at Woodview Middle School, Becky Botsford returns after two weeks a grieving._

She entered the hallways of the school on time as she usually does, but one look at her face would tell anyone that she wasn't fully there. She stared straight ahead, somehow managing to weave through the other students going every which way to their classes. As she opened her locker, she paused for a moment. The death of her mom and brother were still fresh on her mind, but as her dad tried to say as kindly as he could, life goes on. It would be tough, and he knew that she still grieved over them, but she couldn't miss school for too long. Becky knew this, of course, but there were so many things missing in her life. The house seemed so quiet, now that it was just the two of them. The emptiness not just her home, but on both sides of her life, just didn't seem to go away. Bob had always been there, if not physically, then at least in spirit. Without him, she wouldn't be anywhere near the person that she had so far grown into as a person and as a hero. It really did help that her two best friends, Violet and Scoops, also knew of her double life, but Bob was her constant, her rock. He was always a taxi away from her side. She smiled at that as she remembered a few times when his timely arrival had saved her. That's when she noticed the tear on her cheek. Wiping it quickly, she began to gather her books for her class. She had to focus on school right now. Even though she managed to keep up her grades, she did miss a week of school. She paused again as she thought once again of how the villains been conspicuously inactive during this time. She really did appreciate that. Her mind flashed through some of them until it stopped on the Whammer. Her mood immediately soured. Again, as it had happened so many times over the past two weeks, she flashed back to that moment when she had him completely at her mercy. Again, she knew that if Mrs. McCallister wasn't there, that she would've killed him. Being honest with herself, she still wanted to. She now understood my Tobey was always seeking revenge for wrongs done to him. Sure, his reasons weren't as traumatic as they were for her, but…

Becky jumped when a hand placed itself on her shoulder and she had to desperately resist the instinct to flip the owner of that hand. Those self-defense classes her mom had enrolled her in last year really were worth her time. She glared at the person that had snuck up on her, then looked away when she saw who it was.

"Sorry about that," said the false Brit, adjusting his glasses. "You looked very distracted."

"Yeah," she sighed. This boy had been by her side since shortly after the tragedy. At first it was frustrating that he was over all of the time, but since his mom was helping her dad with his own grief as well as the funeral arrangements, it was hard to stay mad at him. The fact that he was actually trying to be supportive was both impressive to her and comforting. She had found herself crying on his shoulder more than once, and was quite glad that he was able to take it in stride, after the first few times it happened, that is. "I was thinking about Bob, this time."

"I figured as much. How are you holding up, now that you're back?"

"As well as I can, Tobey. I just have to focus on school right now." She sighed. "This isn't going to be easy."

This time she heard something behind her before a pair of arms wrapped themselves in a hug from behind.

"That's what we're here, for, Becky," entered an airy voice.

"Violet!" exclaimed Becky.

"Sorry, Tobey. We only have two minutes to get to class."

"Sure, go on, you two" dismissed Tobey. "I'll be fine over here."

The two girls watched as Tobey took a step back and turn to head for his class. It was only last year that he began the effort to become at least socially tolerable for most people. Just a few months ago Tobey had promised Wordgirl that he wouldn't release his robots into the city anymore unless there was a very good reason. Of course the following week he used every robot he had during an emergency where every super powered person in the city had to band together to help her save the day.

"Reminiscing again, Becky?"

"Huh, oh, yeah, Vi. I've been doing that a lot, lately."

"I can't blame you. Just remember, you're strong."

"I know," Becky said as they themselves headed for their class. "By the way, nice word."

"Thank yoooouuuuu. I just wish I knew what it meant."

Becky giggled as she began to define the word for her as they continued to class. As always, defining words always helped her feel so much better.

(B-D)

Mercifully the end of the day bell rang, releasing the now weary students from the halls of learning. Becky was so grateful that she had asked the teachers for their syllabi at the start of the school year so she could try to get ahead of the work in case her hero work got in the way. Due to this foresight, provided by Scoops, she now only had two days of actual catch-up work instead of a week. She had just gathered her supplies and stepped outside and looked up to the clouds. Sure, today wasn't so bad. It was difficult to get through the first class, but she had gotten back into her school groove by lunchtime. Today would've been the worst day for a crime to happen. She had no patience for it, not today. Now, though, now that she got through the school day, things might be getting better. She clinched her eyes shut, fighting back against the constant flashbacks of that bridge. She could still hear the ringing in her head from when that sonic blast hit. The hole, the falling car, that ringing…wait, there wasn't any ringing at the bridge. Focusing, she tried to push the images out of her mind and focused on the ringing. Relief, then frustration rose as she realized that the ringing wasn't in her head, but her hearing had picked up the bank's alarm going off. She was so tempted to let the police handle it, but the people haven't seen Wordgirl for almost two weeks. She really didn't want to, but the city needed to know that they were still protected. Glancing around, she made her way to the side of the school and, with a sad glance to her empty side, transformed and flew.

(B-D)

 _Meanwhile, at the bank…_

Wordgirl landed at the entrance of the bank, somewhat puzzled as to the lack of chaos that normally accompanied a robbery. A quick scan of the inside brought up a curious sight.

"Dr. Two Brains?" The evil doctor spun around, mouth full of cheese and eye wide open. "What's going on here?"

"Oh, W- Wordgirl? What are you…?" he glared at the teller behind him as he swallowed his cheese. "Oh."

"I heard the alarm, but I see you don't even have your henchmen with you. What's your plan, Doc?"

"I don't have one," replied the doctor. "I was driving by when I smelled some cheese. As you can see, they have a table of free cheese samples that I was, um, trying out. This idiot over there must've gotten so spooked when I came in that he triggered the alarm on instinct. I haven't even done anything illegal…this time."

Wordgirl scratched her head as she looked to the security guard, who shrugged, then nodded his head in confirmation. She also heard him mutter something about the teller being a new guy. Wordgirl was actually relieved. She wasn't sure if she had the patience to deal with an actual robbery.

"Well, since this appears to be a simple misunderstanding, I guess there's nothing to be done."

"Thank you." Dr. Two Brains was actually worried whether Wordgirl would've come in swinging or not. Fortunately the irregularity of the situation enabled her to think first. He was about to take his leave when his mouse brain glowed for a moment. Wordgirl had apparently noticed, too, and took a noticeably more defensive stance. "Oh yeah, I just remembered something. I need to see you tonight at my lair. I promise, not a trap, I just need to see you tonight, when you can, alright."

Wordgirl found herself perplexed for a second time in as many minutes. "Why should I do something like that?"

The doctor closed his eyes for a moment, seeming to be deep in thought, before answering. "I need you to meet someone, OK? Just come by, all right?"

Wordgirl looked him in the eye and saw something she hadn't seen in a while. Was that sympathy? She shook her head clear. "Alright, I'll be by. No tricks."

"Cross my heart," he replied as he made his way out of the bank.

With nothing else happening and the evil scientist leaving the building, she gave a short wave to everyone before she flew off. What in the world was that? Who would Doctor Two Brains, of all people, want her to meet. The only people she knew that he associated with was his henchmen and other villains. She really didn't want to go back out, tonight, but this mystery was too tantalizing to pass up. Now she had to figure out how to get past her dad.

(B-D)

 _That night, Becky managed to sneak out of her home to meet up with Dr. Two Brains, not knowing whether or not she's flying into a trap._

"Well, am I?" she asked as she transformed and flew off.

 _…Um, are you asking me?_

"Yeah. I know, it's been a while, but…"

 _Oh, don't worry, I understand. I'm just glad to see you back in uniform again. I was worried about you._

Wordgirl made a quick stop to her hideout to gather herself in front of her computer. "Honestly, I'm worried for myself, too. I mean, I almost killed…him. Am I becoming a monster?"

 _I don't believe that, and obviously your friends don't believe that either, even the ones who know you're Wordgirl know that you're still the hero that you've always been._

"I know," she sighed. "I just wish I could believe it."

 _It's true. You have more inner strength than you realize, although you sure did give Tobey a good ringing for telling Violet and Scoops about what you almost did to…_

"Please, don't mention his name. I'm having a hard enough time keeping my head straight right now." She took in a deep breath. "I have no idea what's ahead, I rarely do, but I have to persevere."

 _You always do, Wordgirl. That's just one of the things that makes you great._

Wordgirl internalized the compliment. "Thank you. Well, better get this over with."

 _Allow me. Soon, Wordgirl arrived at Dr. Two Brain's lair._

Wordgirl landed just outside of the garage. She inspected the building, noticing that the holes that she and Huggy would occasionally make in previous entrances were all patched up. Since she was actually invited this time, she decided to try the door for once. It was unlocked. She guessed the doctor wouldn't be afraid of anybody trying to rob his place, or he just figured that she would use the door. Shrugging, she entered the building. The scene in front of her shocked her still.

"Wake up, May."

"Huh, what?"

"Look, see, I told you she'd use the door."

"Aw, phooey. I thought for sure that she'd make another hole in this rat's nest you have here."

"I'll have you know there are no rats here. This is a mouse-only environment."

Wordgirl stared at the two as granny May handed Doctor Two Brains $20. Her mind finally focused on the fact that there were two villains before her, yet they hadn't made a move against her. She really wanted to go to bed, but she also really wanted to know what was going on. She put her hands on her hips.

"Alright, what's going on, here?"

"Wordgirl," started May as she slowly righted the recliner that she had just napped in. "We need to talk."

"Talk?" This was getting more confusing every second.

"Yeah," added the Doc, "we need to talk to you about a few things before its too late."

Wordgirl floated down to the floor, thoroughly confused as to what they were talking about. "Too late? What? Is it some emergency that I need to know about?"

The two villains glanced at each other.

"Wordgirl, dearie, please sit down. We just want to talk to you. No tricks."

Wordgirl cautiously made her way to another chair before Two Brains stopped her. "That's my chair. I saved the comfortable one for you," he said, pointing to the couch. He didn't seem offended when she made a quick inspection of the couch for traps, even poking it a few times, before taking a seat. "See, like I said, no tricks."

"Okay," the heroine said cautiously. "I believe you. So what's this about?"

"It's about you, dearie."

"Me?"

"Yes, you." May took a sip of tea. "We wanted to talk to you about what happened earlier this month."

"What? No, I don't…"

"Stay there, Wordgirl," warned Two Brains. "You went through a horribly traumatic event and we don't know what, if any, help you've gotten to deal with this. The last thing we, or anybody else, needs right now is a psychologically traumatized super person running around. You need to talk to someone about this, whether you want to or not."

Wordgirl blinked a few times to register what was said. "You think that I'm becoming a psychopath?"

"No, of course not," said May. "We're afraid that you might become one if you don't deal with this." She paused for a moment. "I forget, what exactly is a psychopath, again?"

"A psychopath is a person with a psychopathic personality, which manifests as amoral and antisocial behavior, like a lack of ability to love or establish meaningful personal relationships, or extreme...egocentricity...is that what you think is happening to me?"

"Granny's right. We villains talked this over, and after what happened we don't want to be your next victim if things go south again."

"Victim?"

"Whammer."

Suddenly a throw pillow exploded in the potential psychopath's hand. Wordgirl blushed at her lack of control.

"See," Two Brains glanced at May, "she's already triggered just by hearing his name. Can you imagine if she actually saw him?"

"I'm sure that the new DA wouldn't be able to save him this time."

"I'm…I'm not like that."

Two Brains sighed as he rubbed his temples. "I was afraid it would come to this. She's in denial, or doesn't trust us enough to talk about it."

"Can't really blame her, Doc. We haven't exactly been knitting buddies, ya' know."

"Yeah, yeah. Ok, give me a minute. I'll be right back."

Wordgirl watched curiously as Two Brains didn't leave, but sat cross-legged on the floor. He closed his eyes and his mouse brain began to glow.

"What's he doing?"

"He's showing you just how seriously we're taking this," responded the senior. "The Doc and I aren't close by any stretch, but everyone knows which of those brains is in charge."

Wordgirl gasped. "You don't mean…"

Two Brains' eyes suddenly opened, then winced as he shut again. He slowly tried to stand, needing to anchor himself to his couch to keep his balance. It was like he hadn't tried to stand in years. Finally he made his way back onto his other couch, flopping down on it and breathing a few sagging breathes. Now calm, he opened his eyes, the red tint now gone from his eyes. The whiskers seemed to have shrunk a bit, and his hair had lowered itself considerably, giving him a more normal look than usual. He looked around until he saw Wordgirl.

"Hello, Wordgirl. It's been a while, hasn't it?"

Wordgirl's eyes bulged as she recognized that voice. She hadn't heard that voice since she was eight, but it was a voice that she had longed to hear for years.

"Professor Steven Boxleitner?" she asked, hopefully.

"I think after everything we've been through, Wordgirl, you can just call me Steve."

It had been quite a while since her had a hug that strong, but he was impressed with her control as he was expecting to be unable to breathe once she realized who she was talking to. He was about to say something, but the twelve year old crying into his chest made him choke up. Slowly he hugged her back, causing her to cry even more. May watched on, not having the heart to break up such a reunion. She had heard about his accident that turned him into Dr. Two Brains, but she didn't know about what kind of relationship they had before then. Now she had an idea, and now she understood why he had told her what he would do if Wordgirl became stubborn. Now it seemed that Wordgirl had reverted back to the eight year old that had missed her ally, no, friend for four long years.

"Do you remember anything?" Wordgirl sniffed.

"Yeah, I remember everything. I'm so sorry."

"I know it wasn't you, Prof…Steve. I know it's Squeaky that makes you do what you've done."

"I'm grateful for that, but now you know how much you need this if Squeaky is **willingly** giving me control just to talk to you?"

Wordgirl stopped herself to think about it. She was able to get help as Becky, but Wordgirl didn't have anyone, anymore. Her friends had no idea how to help her with this, and there was a reason why she hadn't put on the uniform for a couple weeks. "Alright, Steve. Let's talk."

(B-D)


	3. Homecoming and Memories

Chp 3 – Reunion and Memories

They sat there for a while, allowing Wordgirl a chance to compose herself. She was still clutching to Steve's lab coat sobbing, like she was afraid that if she let go he would disappear. If one thought about it, it was a possibility. Steve looked at May, her eyes tearing just a bit. Enemies they may be, but seeing such a tearful reunion was enough to make any grandmother cry. It simply reminded them both that under the costume she was still a young girl that was hurting in all kinds of ways. They made no effort to hide their thoughts from each other, and both saw that they thought the same thing. How the heck are we going to do this? They noted that the girl had finally slowed her sobs and breathing, knowing that she was almost ready to talk.

"I missed you so much," she mumbled. That got a surprised look from the two adults. "I've been so alone that I can't stand it."

"I understand," comforted Steve as he tried to ruffle her helmet, then settled on placing a hand on her shoulder instead. "I had no idea that I was going to leave you, but it wasn't your fault."

Wordgirl sniffled again. "I know."

"And I really hope that you're not blaming yourself for what happened on that bridge, either."

"But...it was my fault. I've been getting faster, getting better control of my powers, I've grown up some, but I couldn't stop him. I couldn't save them." She tried to continue, but the sobbing returned in full force. "I let them die!"

The adults exchanged worried looks. This was what they were afraid of. Sure, she would likely take herself out of commission for a while, but if left alone she would eventually withdraw into herself completely, only to explode on the next unfortunate soul to tick her off. Steve cracked a small smile.

"Well, it's a good thing we were chosen to do this, May."

"Why's that?" puzzled May.

"Can you imagine Chuck or Lady Redundant Woman trying to handle this?"

Hearing the now infamous giggle-snort relaxed the trio.

"I'd be here all night if she were here."

"Can't argue that," replied May as Wordgirl giggled again. The girl still had tears running, but it was encouraging to see a smile.

"Okay, Wordgirl," said Steve, "this is your time. May and I are here for you for this moment. I know that with your powers you can do some colossal things, but the one thing I hadn't considered was your mental health." More feeling Wordgirl nod then seeing her, he continued. "I probably would've gotten to it at some point...anyway, how is your family life, back at home?" He felt her stiffen a little. "You don't have to reveal who you are to us. Squeaky did let me out, but I doubt we can trust that information to him." He winced slightly when his mouse brain pulsed green. "Oh settle down, you know I'm telling the truth."

Wordgirl was silent for a moment before she began. "Well, I don't have too many friends as Wordgirl, but I was kinda close to the district attorney's family. They've helped me out several times in one way or another. District Attorney Botsford, she was as close to a mother as I could imagine. Sometimes I would call her mom." The adults quietly processed this as she paused yet again. She had to be careful to not expose her father, but now she didn't have to worry about her mom and brother as much. She tried to resist another sob. She was clutching the lab coat of her long lost friend that was taken over by an evil mouse. It was yet another weird situation that happened in her life so often, so she might as well open up a little. Lord knew she needed someone to talk to about this part of her life.

"Yeah, I remember her family," Steve recalled. "That was back when I thought...when I thought...heh, why can't I remember why I went there?"

Wordgirl giggled. "You were hit with your amnesia ray at the end of that one. I'm not telling."

Steve pouted for a moment when May spoke up. "I remember babysitting for that family a few years ago. Very nice family. Sweet kids. Tried to use them as my alibi for stealing that golden car. I believe that was before she became the DA, though, because the next time I tried that she wouldn't let me anywhere near her family. I can tell you one thing, dearie, and it's that she must have been a good role model for you if her kids were anything to go by. I also know that she had a soft spot for you, too."

"You could've fooled me when I was put on trial."

"HA! Yeah, I remember that. I thought I'd die laughing about that one. My son was there, and he told me all about it. One thing he said that didn't surprise me so much was that she was so distraught before she came out to face you. You'd think she was prosecuting her own daughter." At this point Wordgirl should have known to keep her guard up. All this freezing when they started getting close to her real life was going to tip her hand. "I think she was quite happy with how that ended up."

"Yeah, I learned a lot that day."

There was a comfortable silence as the adults let her reminisce on that day before Steve spoke up again. "What about her son? Were you close to him, too?"

"Yeah," she sighed. "He was like that annoying little brother that you never wanted but was still glad he was there. He was president of my fan club. He even won a chance to see my hideout. He was definitely one of my biggest fans." She smiled. "He even got me out of a few scrapes over the years. I never did tell him how much I..." she sighs. "I'll never get to tell him..."

"Let it out, Wordgirl," soothed Steve as she began crying again. They both noticed that it wasn't as bad as before. Apparently having them talk about the recently departed was a good strategy for consoling grieving kids. There just might be something to that new world web thing after all.

"I-I'm fine," she sniffed, gathering herself. "It just hurts to think about them, you know?"

"Believe me," said May, "I know all too well. You don't get to my age without losing more than a few loved ones along the way. I lost my Pappy, my husband, two children, and a grand, and that's not even counting my friends."

The young patient couldn't resist. "You had friends?"

"Girl," she yelled, shaking the business end of her cane, "if you weren't already suffering. Anyway, I had plenty of friends, and many of them are still around, in one way or another. Old age can be a terrible thing, sometimes, like with John. Poor John. That man was a mountain of a man. This was before people used their powers in public, but looking back I'd swear that man had some super strength. He was big, strong, and quite the looker, if I do say so myself. Girl, I had a downright nasty fight with my two best friends over that man. I'm talkin' down and dir-TAY. We fought each other tooth and nail, only for him to fall head over heels for the one girl that paid him no mind. They did get married, but man, what a time that was. My friends and I decided that since no one actually won, we might as well start over. We did, and since then we had a running bet to see who would outlive the others. I'm still competing with Delores, but I think I'll get her yet. But you know, about ten years ago we got an invite to John's funeral from his wife. Let me tell you, that mountain of a man wasn't much more than an anthill when we saw him. We was shocked. Delores asked the wife what happened to him, and she said he got depressed when he buried his first son and he stopped working out. It only got worse with the next two kids dying before he finally passed away himself. Even before then he was slowing down. He was totally dependent on her for the last five years.

"I guess my point is that even though it does hurt to think about your passed loved ones, it should make you cherish the good memories that you do have instead of the bad. You don't have to let go of the bad ones, just also remember the good along with them." Wordgirl thought about her story, trying to find her point. "Alright, girlie, I see you missed my point. I could've made myself all sad about him bein' gone, or that one of my two lifelong best friends had died, but instead I smile as I remember the good times we had while we were together."

Wordgirl nodded slightly into Steve's side. She hadn't yet let go of him since he first revealed himself. It was all very endearing. Again they sat in silence for a while before Wordgirl spoke up.

"But it's still my fault that they died."

"And there's the main event," said Steve as quietly as he could as he patted her head. "I'd like to hear how you think that you were the one that killed the Botsfords."

"Not all of them!"

"You know what I mean."

Wordgirl calmed herself. Having a fit was not going to help her, especially with these two. "Mo...I mean..."

"Just call her what you want, dear," said May.

"Thanks. Mom and TJ were very close to me. I just don't understand why she ran her car into him like that. If I was stronger, I could've gotten out of that hold before she did that. If I were paying more attention, I would've seen that hole forming before they fell through it. If only I was faster..." She lapsed into silence as she couldn't go on. It was finally out there. Not once had she had the chance to speak it out loud, as hardly anyone would truly understand. "They were family to me. How can I save the day if I couldn't even save them?"

"Tell me," said Steve. "Looking back, is there anything you could've done that could've stopped this? Did you try to move the fight to a safer location?" She nodded. "Did you try to talk him down?" Another nod. "Do you know how many people were on that bridge that day?"

"No, but there were an awful lot of cars there, and they were all occupied."

"I'd say there were probably hundreds, if not over a thousand people that were in danger, at least. Not to mention that Whammer was more than reckless at the time."

"He forgot that the people were still in the cars."

Steven's eyes went wide. "Wow, okay he was beyond reckless, then. But you see, from what you've told us, you didn't kill them. They gave their lives to help you."

"But why?"

"Girl, the same reason you risk your life for them. You're so young you don't even notice how much people love you. That woman treated you like her daughter. Of course she'd try to help you if you were in trouble." The girl was speechless. Not once did that possibility come up. All she saw was that they hit Whammer, then they fell through that hole. She knew that they did it, but never thought to ask "why?" "I see you startin' to understand. Love makes people do some crazy things, and parents especially. If she thought of you as part of her family, there's nothing else she would've done but to help you out. It's not your fault, dearie, that woman willingly gave her life for someone she loved."

"So tell us," said Steve. "What will you do to honor her sacrifice?" Wordgirl continued to shed silent tears as she heard May's speech, but she was caught off guard by Steve's question, though. Was she honoring her mother's sacrifice with what she was doing? What would TJ think of the way she was acting? "You don't have to answer that now, but it's definitely something to mull over." He paused for a moment, giving Wordgirl a chance to speak. She remained quiet, but awake. "Well, this has been a rather draining experience for all of us, but there's still two more things to talk about before we let you go."

"What's that?"

"I'm not sure which one will be harder to talk about, so I'll go to the one I know about. The Whamm...urk, please...air..."

"Sorry!" as she loosened her continuous hold on him.

"Oof, yeah, you really need to work on that. Ouch."

"Sorry."

"I'll be fine. Just so you know, he's going to be transferred out of state in a few weeks. Lady Redundant Woman and Ms. Question went to speak with him a few days back."

"Wow, those three?"

"I'm just glad I didn't have to go," said May.

"Me neither, but what they told us was pretty sad. He's so depressed that he's not even saying 'wham' anymore."

Wordgirl's eyes bulged as she sat up for the first time. "What?"

"Uh, huh. He was so depressed that the girls even dropped their thing to talk to him. Said he's lost his will to wham, or something. Sounds like he's as torn up about that incident as you are, if not more so. He hates the fact that he actually killed someone."

"I had no idea."

"Didn't think you were up on current events, all things considered. He pretty much expected the news that he was expelled from the Evil Villains Association."

"Expelled?"

"Yep. There's a strict "no killing" rule that he broke, regardless if it was an accident. He accepted it without a fuss." Another pause. "He did have one request, though." Steve gently placed Wordgirl to his side so he could look her in the eye. "He wanted to see the child that he orphaned. His words."

Wordgirl's eye went wide once again. "She's not an orphan, her dad was home at the time."

The adults shared another look. "Some of us figured as much," said May, "but he doesn't know that. As far as he knows, he done killed that girl's whole family."

"But why would he want to see…her?"

"Who knows but him?" shrugged Steve. "The question needs to be asked, however. Will you and she have the mercy to tell him?"

"Mercy," Wordgirl ground out. "Thanks to him I almost lost the meaning of the word."

"I doubt you'll ever forget the meaning of the word," Steve said, shaking his head sadly. If he wasn't sure before, he was now most certainly glad that he managed to second the motion to do this. "I was afraid that you would forget the significance of it."

Both Wordgirl and May stared at Steve for a moment before looking at each other.

"Has he always been this deep?" asked May.

"No. He's shockingly focused right now. Usually he's very distracted."

Their attention returned to Steve, noticing that he had just finished eating a piece of cheese. He shifted his eyes between the two.

"What? It's been a while since I actually ate anything. Normally I know everything that's happening, but don't get to experience any sensations. This is my first actual taste of anything in four years."

"And it had to be cheese?"

"Sorry, Wordgirl. It's the only thing around."

They shared a light laugh before Wordgirl spoke.

"I don't know what to think of this. Normally I'd have someone to bounce off ideas to, but…"

"That brings us to the last thing for tonight," said Steve. "You lost more than two loved ones that day."

At this Wordgirl's tears streamed down her face as she was hit with a jumble of memories of the late Captain. He would've been the first to go to sort things out about the Whammer's request. But not anymore. He was always there for her when she needed him the most. He saw through Miss Power's lies. He helped her when Violet ended their friendship over her secret identity. Without him the vast majority of her battle plans were worthless. Yes, he was a space monkey, but he was smart and he loved her, even if he pretended to not know what a lot of words were. At this point she noticed that among her tears was a small smile. Is that what Granny May meant? To remember not just the loss, but the good memories as well.

"I think she's starting to get your point, May."

"I'm glad. I don't know how else I could've explained it."

Wordgirl soon picked herself up from the couch, finally disconnecting herself fully from Steve. She floated to the floor between them and took a deep, calming breath.

"I still have a lot to think about, but I have to admit, this really helped." She floated over to May and gave her a hug. "Thank you, Granny May." She then turned and gave the now standing Steve a hug as well. "And thank you, Steve, for coming back for me. I just felt so alone."

"I know, but I have to tell you, I don't think there's much of a chance of this happening again for a long while."

"The therapy or you?"

"Neither, but I am glad to at least come back to light your darkest hour."

"Light my darkest hour?"

Steve shrugged. "Eh, just a line from some cartoon movie the henchmen picked out one day. Something to do with giant transforming robots or something."

"Well I'm glad I could see you again."

"So am I."

"You'd better get on home now, dearie. You don't want to have whoever's home to be worried about you."

Wordgirl bowed her head for a moment, thinking of her dad. "Yeah, it's gotten late, hasn't it?"

"Yeah," answered Steve. "Go on, girl. I'll try to see you again in the future."

"Thanks again," said Wordgirl as she stopped herself from flying through the ceiling, instead going to the door once again. She took one last look at her long-lost friend, then a moment later she was gone.

As soon as she left, Steve lost he balance and flopped on the couch, his mouse brain pulsing slightly. May went to check on him but he waved her off.

"Nah, I'm fine. Had to put Steve back."

"Wow, that was quick."

"Yep, and that's another twenty you owe me for her exit."

"Dag nabbit!"

(B-D)

A/N: Should've known the Christmas season would be busy. Anyway, it's a new year and a new chapter. Hope you enjoy.


	4. Revelation and Alleviation

Chp 4 - Revelation and Alleviation

 _It was a very odd night for our hero, as she returns home from a consoling session with Granny May and Dr. Two Brains. With a lot on her mind, Becky tries to sneak back into her house._

"Tries?" asked Becky as she came in through the sliding glass door from the back yard. Not hearing a response from the Narrator, she carefully closed the door behind her and checked the area. The lights were off and the house was quiet, just as she left it. She glanced at the clock, finally learning that she had been out for almost two hours. Well, at least she wasn't going to lose too much sleep, but then again, after what she just went through, it would be hard to calm herself down to the point where she could go to sleep. As long as...

"Becky."

"AH!"

...there aren't any...well shoot.

The light in the living room turned on to reveal Tim Botsford sitting patiently on the couch. Becky slowly made her way to him, knowing that she was caught in the act. Now how to explain this?

"Dad, um. Did you just pull the 'waiting for your child to get home and scare the daylights out of them' thing?"

Tim could no longer hide his smile. "Yes, Becky, I sure did." Suddenly his face grew serious. "Now take a seat, Becky. It looks like we need to talk."

"Uhg, please no more," she complained as she made her way to the living room. "I've already done enough talking for one night."

"Oh? And who were you talking to that you couldn't do it over the phone?"

"Um, er..." she was really stuck this time. Her father was distressingly sharp tonight. She knew that she couldn't bring in Violet because that was a phone call. She wouldn't dare to open the Pandora's Box of mentioning one of the boys. She looked up and saw her dad waiting patiently for her answer. She sighed. "You wouldn't understand."

"Heh, I wasn't expecting that answer for another couple of years. That's teenager speak. Now try again, Becky. It's two hours past your bedtime and I find you sneaking back into the house. I could understand if it were for a late night snack, but you left the house. We've already lost so much, Becky. I couldn't bare to lose you, too. I need to know why you were out there."

She thought back to what she had been doing that night, holding on to a friend that she thought was lost, remembering her lost family, trying not to blame herself for what happened. She thought about how her dad must have felt when he noticed that she was gone tonight. She knew she was having a hard time with this, but her dad must've had it much worse. They were all they had left outside of Bampy. She sighed.

"Dad, I can't do this anymore. I think it's time I told you."

"Tell me what, Becky?"

"Remember all those times when someone would tell you that I was Wordgirl, and I'd always deny it?"

"That has happened several times. I'm wondering how this is related."

"Well, it is. You see, I was out tonight because Dr. Two Brains asked to see me tonight to talk about the accident."

"And why in the world would he want to talk to you about that?"

She took a breath. "Because I'm Wordgirl."

Tim straighten himself upright on the couch as she said this. She was ready to prove her claim when he stood up and hugged her.

"My dear sweet, silly little girl. I'm surprised that you thought we didn't know."

"Huh?"

"Come sit with me. I have a short story to tell you."

He led the dazed Becky to the couch and sat next to her, holding her hand.

"Wha...How? When did you know?"

"A little after you defeated Miss Power. When she kidnapped your mom, of course it was a shock, but it was after everything had settled down that we realized something. We saw the fight on TV when she defeated you, and it was a painful memory to see her tear off your star like that, but when we looked back on that moment, we thought we saw your sweater underneath your uniform. I guess that's when we really started to look into you like that. Well, that and we kept a closer eye on what you were doing, too."

"So...what finally gave me away?"

Tim smirked. "Well, imagine my surprise when Wordgirl's uniform ended up in our laundry. I mean, WOW!"

"WHAT?"

"I know. I think it was after a particularly rough day fighting crime. You know, when the villains thought you were gone and ran amok? It took you hours to clean that up."

"Yeah, I remember. That was about a year ago, wasn't it?"

"That sounds right. You must've been so tired that night that you just threw it in with your dirty clothes. Sally and I had a nice long talk after we washed them for you."

"And here I thought Bob had done it for me."

"Nope, that was us. That helmet was a real toughie to clean."

"Really?" deadpanned Becky. "Years of carefully keeping that secret and I'm found out by my laundry?"

"It is good head protection, so it's OK. Anyway, we decided to let you tell us when you were ready. We wanted you to want to trust us enough to tell us. We had our reaction all planned out, too."

"You...you did?" she worried.

"Oh yeah," laughed her father. "Your mother was going to swoon a bit while I would hyperventilate. Then we'd both start on the mother of all guilt trips until we couldn't keep a straight face anymore and let you off the hook."

"W-wow," stuttered Becky as she tried to imagine what she had missed. That would've been mortifying on an epic level.

Tim took another minute to finally reign in his mirth. "Becky, I know things have been tough on you, and I've tried to be there for you after the accident..."

"I know, dad. I'm not the only one that's lost half of their family..."

"Yes, but there's something that I want you to know, now that you know my secret." Becky couldn't help but smirk. "Your mother and I, we love you, more than anything in the world. I wish you could've seen our faces when we finally knew for sure what our daughter was doing in her free time. The fact that your mom gave her life to help you should tell you everything you need to know about how much we love you, Becky. I know it's hard to understand until you have your own kids, but we were so proud of you. Even with her, TJ, and Bob now gone, you need to remember that you still have your family with you. It's good to mourn those now gone, but you also have to remember to be happy with those that are still with you. One day our family may increase again, and new memories will be made. They won't replace the past memories, but they wouldn't want us to...to, what's that word when we don't do anything? You know, like stay in one place?"

Becky wiped a tear. "You mean stagnate, like in this case if we were to stop developing, growing, progressing, or advancing in our lives."

Tim smiled as he ruffled her hair. "That's my girl." He then sighed, tiredness finally catching up to him. He glanced around the mostly dark living room before leaning back on the couch with a yawn. "So many memories in this house." Becky, also very tired from everything that had happened tonight, laid down and snuggled up to her father's side. He yawned again as he lifted his arm to accommodate her, then gave her a slight squeeze of a hug. "When was the last time you did that?"

"...did what?"

"Snuggle up on me for comfort like this?"

"...don't know." She made herself more comfortable under his arm. "Been too long, though."

"Yeah," said Tim as he rubbed her shoulder, fondly. "Just remember that I'm always here for you, especially now that you know that I know you, both sides of you."

Tim got a strong hug back for that one, and before either of them knew it, they had both fallen asleep, and for the first time in weeks their dreams were at peace.

(B-D)

A/N: From what I heard, last chapter was pretty heavy, but it's kind of hard to have a serious moment with Tim Botsford. Still, I hope you enjoyed this slightly more fluffy chapter.


	5. Determination and Triggering

Chp 5 Determination and Triggering

 _It's been a week since Wordgirl's consultation with Dr. Two Brains and Granny May, as well as her father, and things have managed to lighten up for our once again plucky hero. Her flashbacks have lessened, she spent a lot more time talking with her dad, and even flew patrol a couple of times. Things were starting to look up. However, there was still one thing nagging her mind, something that she would have to confront, or is it someone?_

Becky had just returned home with Violet in tow to have a TV play date for the first time in ages. To their greatest anguish, the Pretty Princess and Magic Pony Power Hour series had ended several months ago. This agony was short lived, however, as a sequel series, _Pretty Princess and Magic Pony; Camaraderie is Spellbinding_ , was set to debut today.

"I can't believe that Pretty Princess has a new series!" exclaimed Becky, practically vibrating with excitement.

"I know," said Violet as she picked up her horse head.

Despite the fact that they were both almost teenagers, neither had any problem agreeing to cosplay for this special occasion. Becky was a little sad that TJ wouldn't be able to enjoy this, regardless of his constant denials that he liked the show. She smiled once again. She'd just have to enjoy this for the both of them.

"Are you girls ready for the premier?" asked Count Cloudy, whom Tim had dressed up as.

"YEAH!" screamed the girls. Violet had done some upgrades to her magic Pony outfit, now with 20% more sparkles! Becky, on the other hand, had outgrown her old Pretty Princess costume, so of course she had gone out and gotten a new one that fit. She was going to have to talk to Violet, though, as for some reason that escaped Becky, there weren't any Pretty princess costumes made for kids older than twelve. Who gave them the right?

Focusing on happier thoughts, she decided to enjoy her time with her dad and best friend. This was the first time since the accident that they had hung out at the Botsford house just for fun. Becky would've been happy anywhere, but Tim had insisted that they needed to start making new memories for the home. The show began, and Becky tensed.

"What's wrong, Becky?" asked Violet.

"Huh? Oh, nothing, yet. It's just usually when something like this happens, something comes up to make me miss this show. It's so frustrating."

"I can imagine. I hope nothing like that happens this time."

"HHHEEEELLLPPPP!" a cry was heard outside. Becky buried her face into her hands. "THERE'S NOTHING GOING ON AROUND TOWN AND IT'S BORING. HHEEELLLPPP!"

Violet and Becky looked at each other incredulously before they burst out in a giggling fit.

"I really love you being here with me," smirked Becky.

"It's my pleasure," her best friend smirked back.

(B-D)

Amazingly that was the only distraction from the show that afternoon. They had made sure to put up their costumes before cleaning up the kitchen while Tim was in the living room.

"Hey, Becky," called Tim. "You may want to see this."

Becky and Violet stepped into the living room to see a news report in progress.

"...ident weeks ago. The new Fair City District Attorney, Claire McCallister, says that the Whammer will be transferred to a specialized, high security laboratory to study his abilities as well as to serve out his sentence. She said for security reasons that she cannot give a specific date on when the transfer will occur, but sources say that it will be sometime this week. This is historic due to the fact that the Whammer will be the first super powered criminal to be willing to be studied by scientists from both the Center for Disease Control and the Department of Justice. We'll be getting more details as the transfer draws near. This is Cameron "Buck" Williams, reporting..."

Violet turned off the TV as Becky stood still at the edge of the living room. Violet glanced at Tim, then back to her friend. She had no idea why he would call her attention to something like that. Tim, however, knew that she would react this way, but he also knew that she would need some closure if she were to continue her healing process.

"Soooooo, it looks like he'll be going away for a long time."

"That's right, Violet," said Tim. "From what Claire told me, he'll be transferred by the end of the week. She did wonder if Wordgirl would be willing to help, but she wasn't sure."

"I don't think she'd want to," grumbled Becky through her clinched teeth, her fists shaking. "It might not be a good idea for either of them to be near one another."

"Well, I thought I'd at least mention it," said Tim as he gave Becky a hug. "Relax, he won't be hurting anyone anymore."

Becky relaxed a little as she returned his hug. "I know, dad," she sighed. She had pondered for many days on what Dr. Two Brains and Granny May had told her, and she now knew that she didn't have much time left. She separated herself from her dad and spoke. "I'll have to go see him before he gets transferred."

Both were shocked to hear this, but Tim was proud. They both knew that the Whammer was her trigger.

"Are you sure...?" started Violet.

"Yes. I have to see him. I have to see him face to face."

"Well," said Tim, "I am surprised that you want to do this, but at least now Claire won't have to figure out how to get you to see her." Becky raised an eyebrow. "She told me that she wanted to see you within the next few days."

Becky's eyes widened. "She did?"

"Yep."

"I wonder why she wants me to see her? Wait, at her house or her office?"

"Her office."

"Hmm, that's strange."

"So will you be going to city hall, then?" asked Violet.

Becky thought for a moment. She hadn't been to city hall since the accident. She didn't really have a reason to go, anymore, especially as herself, but it seemed like the new DA wanted to see her, not Wordgirl. Yeah, she knew some people there through her mom, but they weren't exactly friends.

"I think I may have to." She turned to her dad. "Did she say anything about why she wanted to see me?"

"Nope," replied Tim. "She said that she really wanted to speak with you, though. She would've stopped by but she's pretty swamped on getting things back on track. Your mom ran that office pretty well. Everybody was kinda lost without her."

Becky finally plopped herself onto the couch with a loud sigh. "Man, when is this emotional rollercoaster gonna end?"

"Hopefully soon," sighed Tim. He had been on an even wilder ride than his daughter, although it was tough to compare with her alter ego. "I think she wants to do something to help you, though."

"Yeah, I figured as much." Becky debated internally for a moment as Violet sat beside her. Tim went ahead to finish the job the girls had started when he had interrupted them. After a minute she felt Violet's hand on her's. Opening her eyes she saw her best friend looking intensely into her own. She quirked her eyebrow, and Violet's confident nod gave her what she needed. "Dad!" she called as she stood. "Is Mrs. McCallister at work today?"

"Yes, I'm sure she is."

"Okay. I'm going to walk Violet home, then I'll visit her."

"Go ahead, sweetheart. I'll finish up here."

"Thanks, dad."

Becky and Violet walked out to the backyard before she transformed, picked up Violet, and flew off. This had caught the young girl completely off guard, but soon started to cheer in excitement as they flew together. Wordgirl found themselves a somewhat secluded park to land in, and returned once again as Becky Botsford, normal pre-teen girl.

"Woooo!, I keep forgetting how much fun that is."

"Yeah, sorry for not warning you, first."

"No problem. It's fuuunnnnn!" She started running around with her arms up for a moment before calming herself somewhat. Another moment of mirth and she was ready to talk again. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

"Who else? _**HIM!**_ "

"Wow, you sure are triggered."

"Triggered? I don't think that's how you use that word. It's more like provoked or enraged."

"It's gotten a new meaning recently. It pretty much means anything that sets off a flashback transporting the person back to the event of her/his original trauma."

"Really? When did that happen?"

"Oh, one of my pen pals told me about it."

Becky shook her head "...Wow, I must really be out of it if I need a word defined for me."

"Well, from what I've heard being triggered does tend to turn someone irrational."

"Okay, who are you and what have you done to Violet?"

"I'mmm from another dimension," she said in as spooky a voice as she could, lifting her hands and wiggling her fingers. "I'm here to prepare the way for the great Cthulhu!"

"Alright," Becky smirked, "now you're just messing with me."

"I'm just trying to help."

"Yeah, it's working."

"I'm glad," Violet smiled before taking a slightly more serious face. "So you said that you have to do this, but do you want to?"

"Of course I don't want to do this, Violet, but I may have to. Remember when I told you that Dr. Two brains and Granny May had their little talk with me?"

"Yes. That sort of scared me when you told me."

"Tell me about it. I know they did it to cover themselves, but it really did help me out in some ways. It's strange, though, that Doc used that 'triggered' word, too, now that I think about it. Anyway, they told me that he thinks he orphaned me." Violet gasped. "Yeah, I know. He doesn't know about my dad, but they asked me something. They asked me if both Wordgirl and I would be merciful enough to tell him."

"But..."

"I know, I'm both, but what should I do?"

"Well, I think you know what you 'should' do, but is it something that you 'can' do?"

"Geez, what's with everybody in my life getting so deep all of a sudden?"

"You forget that you're not the only one going through a tough time, Becky. Scoops and I have been doing everything we can to help you through this. We love your family, and it was a heavy loss for us, too."

Becky looked away, ashamed at how her mindset kept preventing her from seeing how others are dealing with what happened to her. First the McCallisters, then the villains, her dad, now her best friends.

"Geez, Vi, I'm so sorry. I should've noticed..."

"No, Becky, you were so deep in grief, there's no way you would've noticed what was going on around you until you began to heal. I'm just glad that you are getting better."

"I understand. That's how I also missed how **he's** feeling about this." Becky took a deep, calming breath. "OK, I think I'm ready."

"That's good. I can get home from here. You take care of yourself."

They hugged. "Thanks, Vi. I'm so glad I can talk to you about this."

"Me too. Remember, you're strong."

Becky nodded as she turned toward city hall. She had to find a way to get Mrs. McCallister to allow her to see Whammer, but first she needed to know what she wanted from her.

(B-D)

 _Inside city hall, Becky finally managed to find the new district attorney, Claire McCallister._

"Well if it isn't Becky Botsford," exclaimed the Warden, who was speaking to Claire as Becky approached.

"Heh, hi, Warden. Long time, no see, right?"

He placed his hand on her shoulder. "I'm just glad that yur' doin' OK, lil' Becky. What happened to yur' mom hit us all pretty darn hard. I'd eat ma' hat if anyone says different."

"Um, thanks."

"Warden, I would like to see Becky for a while. Could you do me a favor and tell my secretary to cancel my afternoon?"

"No problem, ma'am. Ya'll take care, now."

Mrs. McCallister waved as the Warden left her office. "Just give me a few minutes to get my things, Becky, and we'll be on our way."

"Um, ok."

Becky stood near the doorway as Mrs. McCallister retrieved her personal belongings. She finally looked up to see her mom's former office. A lot had changed, of course. Most of her mom's stuff had been packed and returned shortly after Clair was appointed to succeed her mom. Other than that, however, there wasn't as much change as she thought there would be. There was still one instance of her mom still in the office, on a picture on her desk of both their families that they took last Christmas. Tobey had just started to try to be more sociable at the time, but for some reason he still hated getting his picture taken.

"Ok, Becky, we're ready to go."

Becky was startled as she didn't even notice that the large woman was next to her when she spoke. Is that how she was able to sneak up on Tobey all the time?

"Oh, yeah, sorry about that. I haven't been here since, well, you know."

"I understand," said Mrs. McCallister , placing her hand on the girl's shoulder. "That's why we're taking a little trip, just the two of us. I've been wanting to talk to you for a while, now."

"Sure, I'm ready when you are."

She followed the older woman as they made their way out of the building and to her car. Aside from the occasional greeting from her mom's former associates, they travelled in silence. She didn't recall ever being with Mrs. McCallister without Tobey around, or at least with her mom. She couldn't imagine why she would want to talk to her. Wordgirl, maybe, but Becky? She saw a sad glance from her as she started the car. They finally turned onto the main road when she finally spoke.

"I know that we haven't spent much time, together, Becky, but I want you to know that I'm here for you if you need someone to talk to."

"Thanks, Mrs. McCallister."

"Please, after what we've been through, call me Claire."

"...sure."

They lapsed into silence once again. Again she asked herself why she was there?

"Look Becky, I don't believe in beating around the bush, so I'd like to bypass the awkward silence and get to what we really need to talk about."

Becky studied her for a moment. "Sure, I'd like that. My dad told me that you were trying to figure out how to get to talk to me, but I can't imagine why? I mean, I know you helped out Dad a lot, but..." she drifted off, not knowing how to finish.

"I see," Claire said quietly. "You must've been in such a haze that you don't remember."

"Remember what?"

Claire took a breath. "When I talked you down from killing the Whammer."

Now Becky was too nervous to warrant her normal response to that name. She clearly remembered that moment, almost every detail etched into her mind's eye. The dazed look on his face, the feel of his shirt as she held him up, the overwhelming desire to finish him off after pummeling his face more times than ever before, his sincere apology.

"What...do you mean?"

"Becky, it's alright. It was a difficult time for the both of us. I barely had the presence of mind to realize what you were about to do."

"Um, but I...wasn't...um"

"Becky, I know that you're Wordgirl."

She was afraid of that, as at this point she remembered that she had yelled that her family was dead. Of course she would've been able to figure that out.

"And don't worry, Tobey will not learn this from me. I can be trusted."

"I...I see. This is just so unexpected. How?"

"It wasn't hard after hearing you screaming about what happened to your family. I have to admit, I wasn't even thinking about it until I was consoling you. Believe it or not, it was your anguish that connected the dots for me."

"My...anguish?"

"Yes. The second time Tobey and I had come over you had one of your crying fits while Tim was out. As I held you I had the fiercest episode of deja vu. As I was soothing you, I noticed that the anguish on your face was almost exactly like Wordgirl's that day." She then smirked. "That and the sobbing with that little snort of yours."

Becky buried her face in her hands. "Argh! Why did I have to have that snort? I'm so mortified."

"It turned out to be a good thing, this time. At least in the long run, anyway. That was one of the rare times that I got to interact with you without Tobey being involved, so of course I would remember certain details. Did you know that I had to take off of work for three days to recover from that experience?" Claire glanced at Becky. The young girl looked at her, shocked. "I was so frantic that Tobey had to take care of me during that time. I mourned for you mother, I mourned with your father, but I especially mourned for you."

"For me? Why?"

"Because of what happened. I vividly remember your face that day, Becky, and it almost destroyed me to see you in such a state. You were completely devastated, because you had lost almost everything that you cared for. That and it happened in the line of duty, so I knew you'd feel responsible for what happened. I know I don't have to remind you of what you've lost, but I can see that you're healing, too. I've always known that you are strong as any hero should be, but I've also seen how strong you are as a person. I'm proud of you, Becky."

"Thanks Mrs. Mc...I mean Claire. That means a lot to me. Man, I've been getting help from all kinds of unexpected people lately."

"I'm glad to hear that, because there's something else that I think you need to do before it's too late."

Becky looked at Claire as the pieces finally fell into place. "So does that mean that we're heading toward the prison?" Claire nodded. "Well, at least I didn't have to figure out some way to convince you to let me see him as myself."

"Becky," said Claire as she reached for Becky's hand. "I would've allowed it, just for you."

Her took the woman's hand with a light squeeze. "Thanks, Mrs...I mean, Claire."

Claire nodded. "Yes, I do believe that our new relationship will take some getting used to for the both of us." Becky nodded in agreement. "I would like you to see me as someone that can help you, both in your public as well as your private life."

"I understand, Claire. I guess it would be nice to have some adults that know both sides of me."

"It's never a good thing to be alone, especially when protecting the city. I have some ideas on how we could make things a bit easier for you. I never did like the idea of us depending on you for everything. Sally tried to get some things going in that regard, but the bureaucracy, good Lord. Since you have a lot of experience in this area, would you mind if I bounced a few ideas off of you?"

The two continued their conversation until they arrived at the prison. She knew better than to take the main entrance, as that was where the media circus was camped out. She took the employee entrance in the back. Now that they've arrived, it was time to face the Whammer.

(B-D)

A/N: Sorry for the delay, but the rest of the story has been processed and 99% of post-production is complete. Updates will come much quicker until the end. Thank you, and R&R.


	6. Confrontation and Mercy?

Chp 6 - Confrontation and Mercy?

 _Last time we saw Becky finally meet with the new district attorney, Claire McCallister, and boy did she have something to say. She told Becky that she knew her secret, that she was Wordgirl. Becky was very nervous from being confronted about it, but Mrs. McCallister made it clear that her secret was safe, and that she really wanted to help. First, however, they had to meet with the man that caused this extreme shift in everyone's lives._

Claire McCallister walked through the prison with Becky by her side, both with determination set on their faces. The guards steered clear of the duo as anyone could clearly see that they were on a mission. They all had read the memo of what to do when she showed up with the girl. Soon they arrived at the high security cell used for solitary confinement or very special cases. Needless to say, it was used for both for this particular prisoner.

For the interned inmate, it had been worse than a nightmare. At least you could wake up from a bad dream. Things had gone surprisingly quick for him. In just three weeks he was tried and sentenced to life in prison. The judge had mercy and gave him the slightest chance of parole, but not until after first serving thirty years. All of his best times were now behind him. At least he managed to get some time off for being willing to be studied. He figured that it was just. He was a murderer, after all. There were few things in his mind that could be worse than that. He may not be the brightest rock in the toolbox, or however that saying went, but he did want to make things right.

"Hey, McGinley." The inmate raised his head, confused. It wasn't time to eat, yet. "You're getting out for a minute with the DA. You know what to do."

The inmate routinely stood up and lifted his arms straight out, fingers splayed out. He placed them into two holes in the left wall where a pair of specially made gloves were placed on his oversized hands. These gloves prevented him from bending his fingers in any way, preventing him from using his powers. Not that he felt like using them, anyway. It was because of them that he was in this predicament. Once the gloves were secured, he stepped back to allow the door to open. Two guards came in and escorted him to an interrogation room, where he was seated and left alone. That was unusual. Normally they always had someone in the room with him. Minutes later he was shaken from his thoughts when the door opened and a young black girl walked in. The door closed behind her as she stood there, frozen. She wore a red sweater and a black skirt coming down to her knees. She was very unassuming, not at all belonging in a place like this. What shocked him, however, was the look in her eyes. It was a mixture of pain, anger, and sorrow. So, it seems that his one request had been granted, after all. He knew that he didn't know this girl, but why did she, and more specifically her eyes look so hauntingly familiar?

The girl finally mustered the strength to walk over to the chair across from the inmate and sat down. It was obvious the effort she had to take to not attack him on the spot. She placed her elbows on the table and her chin cradled in her hands, eyes closed. As he listened he could tell that she was forcibly calming herself. He was honestly surprised at her emotions. He expected sadness, maybe even fear, but there was no trace of fear of her. Instead there was controlled anger.

"Hello, Whammer," the girl said as she opened her cold, hard eyes.

He was again surprised at the tone of her voice. It was so controlled and devoid of feeling.

"So, you must be the Botsford kid, am I right?"

"My name is Becky." Her voice was really starting to concern him. No child show be like this, but then again, after what he did...

"Look, I know I did something terrible to you. I know that I caused you a bunch of pain that nobody like you should ever feel. I know that you'll never forgive me, and I accept that." Becky arched an eyebrow. "I just wanted to let you know that it was an accident. I wasn't really trying to hurt anybody."

"The bridge was full of cars with people in them. How were you not trying to hurt people?"

"Um, well, I'm not that smart, and I forget things when I get excited. I was just enjoying my battle with Wordgirl." He paused when the anger filled her eyes once again. "Look, I'm sorry, Becky. I never wanted anybody to get hurt like that. I know you won't forgive me, but I do want you to believe me."

"Believe you?" she growled. "Why in the world do you expect me to believe you?"

Whammer looked down, avoiding those angry eyes. They looked so out of place on that girl's face, like it wasn't natural there. "Oh, I don't know. I don't know what to think and say anymore. At least I won't be able to hurt anyone else again."

Becky stared at the man in front of her. The last time she had seen him she was willing to put his blood on her hands, but now that she has had time to recuperate from the trauma that was the bridge incident, she could finally see just how distressed this man was. She was still angry with him, though.

"Accident or not, you still killed my family." Whammer flinched as she raised her voice. "My mom will never have a chance to see me off to college or watch me get married. My brother will never get a chance to play the protective brother and challenge any potential boyfriend that I bring home. It's because of YOU that I'll never see them again!"

"Yeah, I know, I'm so sorry. It wasn't supposed to happen again, I swear!"

"I'LL NEVER SEE MY MO...wa-wait, again?" her voice cracked a little in mid yell. "What do you mean by that?"

He sighed, realizing his slip. "I've never told anyone, but I know what you're going through."

"Why do I find that hard to believe?"

"Because I got so good at pretending that it didn't happen that I started to believe it, myself. I've learned that if you lie to yourself long enough, you forget what the truth is." She nodded for him to continue. "Ya' see, when I was a kid, younger than you, even, my family was in an accident. Well, my brother was picking on me and I used my powers on him, in the back seat of the car on a road trip. Took out his window, too. My parents turned around to yell at me, so they didn't see that truck comin' right for us till it was too late. Next thing I knew I was in a hospital bed a few days later. I soon learned that I was the only survivor. When I found out the truck driver was in the same hospital, I wanted to wham him so hard, but I was still hurt. I couldn't get out of bed thanks to my broken leg, so I had no choice but to lay there and cry. After a while, I started to pretend that I was some world famous wrestler. Came up with a back story an' everything. The only time I didn't think about wrestling was ma' family's funeral. Kinda hard not to think of them there. Once I was out of that hospital, though, I'd already become the Whammer. After going through several foster families, I finally found myself in a wrestling league that took younger wrestlers. It took a while before I was able to get a little famous before they shut down the league. I was fourteen, and I'd already forgotten that I had killed my own family. I'd only remember when the nightmares would hit me. That's usually when I went out of a um, a...um, what's that called when you go out destroying things just because?"

"A rampage?"

"Yeah, that's it. I'd try to wham that dream outta my head by whamming everything else around me. After doing that one night, the Coach found me and brought me into his Villain School."

"So let me get this straight," said Becky, struggling to put things together. "You caused the accident that killed your family, and then you created a completely different persona to keep yourself from remembering that?"

"Yeah, that sounds right."

Becky sat back in her chair, not expecting a tragic backstory from the Whammer of all people. She thought about her past encounters with him as Wordgirl. it seemed that he had been having more and more nightmares as time went on, as if his mind was forcing him to remember.

"So when you started rampaging on the bridge?"

"That was the worst nightmare, ever. I really wasn't in my right mind then. I even really hurt Wordgirl with that Wham Grab. I'd only used that move once before, and the guy was hurt so bad I said I'd never use it again." He faceplanted himself on the table. "I...was really...stupid...then," he said, banging his head on the table with each word. "I've done everything I could to forget that I was an orphan, and next thing I know I've gone and done it to someone else." He sat himself up once again. "I had to make a choice. Do I keep being the Whammer, tryin' to forget, or do I end that guy and accept what I should've accepted a long time ago and deal with it? I really am sorry that I made the choice too late for you and your family."

Becky watched him as he hung his head in shame, finally exhausted from bearing his soul to her. It took her several minutes to collect herself before she felt that she could speak again without her voice cracking.

"I see," she said as she stood, gaining his undivided attention. She slowly made her way to the door. "I once told a friend that thanks to you I'd almost lost the meaning of the word 'mercy.' He told me that wasn't his concern." She placed her hand on the doorknob, stopping short of turning it. "He told me that he was afraid that I would lose the significance of the word." Seeing the confused look on his face, she continued. "A meaning is like a definition, or what something is intended to be. Significance, however, is the importance of the word. For a few weeks, now, I'd been mulling over the difference between the two, and I think I finally get it." She now opened the door and stopped half-way through to take a breath, then turned around. "I'll have to let my dad know what you told me. He's waiting for me back at home."

With that she crossed the threshold and closed the door, but her hearing picked up a sound of sobbing, but it wasn't the sad kind. It was different, lighter. As she left she saw Claire come out of the attached room where she had observed the entire meeting. Becky wasn't expecting the hug that came when they met.

"And that's why you're such a great hero, Becky. You've found enough strength to give him some mercy."

"Thank you," she barely managed to say, now finally overwhelmed by what she just went through.

"And I see that he's given you some peace as well."

Becky could only nod affirmatively as she cried into Claire's arms, much like they had weeks before, only this time instead of anguish, there was peace.


	7. Reestablishment and Indignation

Chp 7 - Reestablishment and Indignation

 _Several days have passed since Becky, as herself, met face-to-face with the Whammer. During the intense faceoff, Whammer bore his soul to the girl, explaining exactly why things happened the way they did those few tragic weeks ago. Now back in school, Becky's friends were glad to see a major improvement in her demeanor. Even when someone had mentioned the Whammer near her one day, her reaction was much more subdued than before, much to her friends' delight. It's after school, now, and Becky and Tobey were meeting outside._

Becky sat on a bench in the park across the street from her middle school, taking in the nice environment of the park. She had heard from Claire that the Whammer, or John McGinley as he now preferred his real name, would be transferred that Saturday, likely trying not to inconvenience Wordgirl too much if anything happened. Becky smiled. It was definitely good to have friends in high places. She could hardly believe how close they'd become since the previous Saturday when she took her to see John. She smiled a little. It was good to think of his new alias instead of the one where he had killed her mom and brother. It really helped to separate him from the false persona, which helped her to accept her current family condition. It was a bonus that Bampy had come over on Sunday to visit. Being able to talk to both him and her dad was a huge relief. She smiled again when she had floated up to get something from the cupboard, causing both men to try to cover for her before they realized what she was doing. She had a good laugh at their expense as they demanded why the other said nothing about her previously.

Unfortunately, this time her instincts kicked in before she could think about it and flipped that surprise hand on her shoulder. Fortunately Huggy had trained her to control the strength of the throw. It was a good thing, too, because Tobey would've been seriously hurt, otherwise.

"You have got to stop doing that, Tobey."

"...pain..."

"What was that? You won't be doing that again?"

*whimper*

"Thank you," she smirked as she helped him up onto the bench.

"Ow," whined Tobey, finally getting his breath back, as well as gaining the feeling of pins in his legs. "What...was that for?" he strained.

"I've told you before. Mom enrolled me in a self-defense class last year. Last time I was distracted, but this time, well, not so much."

"Duly noted once again." Tobey rubbed his lower back a little. "I think I'll approach from the front from now on."

"Good idea."

They sat there in silence for a moment, Becky once again taking in everything around her, and Tobey trying to regain normal control of his legs. As he picked out a few pieces of gravel from his shirt, he glanced at the girl next to him. Has it really been only a month since she lost half of her family? She seemed so at peace with everything right now, even to the point of poking fun at him after flipping him over her shoulder. Her friends had reminded her repeatedly that she was strong, but now after seeing her a month removed from a tragedy that would've broken lesser people, he saw that those words were not just for comfort. They were reminders. He remembered their interactions both before and after he social conversion, and as loathe as he was to admit it, she was actually close to him intellectually. It just took him a while to notice or admit it. Having such a large vocabulary meant that there was obviously something going on upstairs. He was just too prideful to admit it before. Speaking of vocabulary, his mind once again wondered to the subject of the other girl of his life. He had attended the follow-up meeting of the Villains Society to get an update on how she was doing, and according to Two Brains and Granny May, the talk was at least somewhat successful. He was more relieved than he cared top admit after hearing that news. He had heard that she was on patrol again, although not nearly as often as before. He couldn't blame her, really. At least Becky still had some support behind her, but as far as he knew, Wordgirl only had...Dr. Two Brains and Granny May? Yeah, he needed to talk to her, too. Enough time had passed to try to look for her, but how?

"Tobey, why do you have that remote in your hand?"

"My what?" he asked, surprised to see that he had pulled out his robot remote as he was lost in thought. Sheepishly he put it back in its place. "Sorry about that. I was lost in thought."

Becky just studied him for a moment before looking to the sky again. "What were you thinking about?"

Tobey paused, not sure how to answer. Usually he was the one asking about her thoughts. Goodness how things have changed. "Believe it or not, I was thinking about Wordgirl."

That got her attention as she straightened herself. "What about?"

He sighed. So this is how it's like to be close to someone. Constantly talking about one's inner thoughts that normally wouldn't see the light of day. At least things were more than pleasant between them, these days. "I was wondering how she was dealing with what happened last month. I know I haven't seen her recently even before that whole dreadful thing happened, but I'm worried about her."

Becky was touched. She knew he liked her alter ego, but this was genuine concern for her. She made a note to stop by sometime to talk.

"I hear she's been holding up fairly well, lately."

"Oh, and where did you hear about this?" he asked with a smirk.

Becky rolled her eyes, seeing that some things never change, like this old game. His queries were as subtle as ever, now. "Remember, I'm her friend. We've talked about this a couple of times. She's even told me that a couple of the villains even had a sit-down with her a few weeks back. I sure didn't see that coming." It should be noted that her denials had improved over the years as well.

Tobey raised an eyebrow. "So you say. I honestly can't believe you got me talking about this. Anyway, since you're 'friends' with our hero, would you kindly relay what I said to her?"

She smirked. "Sure, Tobey. I can do that, next time I see her."

"Thank you." He paused for a moment as Becky again turned her attention to the sky. "So, your dad asked you to meet me here, right?"

"Yeah," Becky frowned. "He said something about picking us both up for something. Can't imagine why, though."

"Well, he has been trying to spend some more time with me, lately." That got a surprised look from Becky. "I know, it's weird, but don't think I haven't noticed you getting closer to my mum as well. What is going on with that?"

"Well, I guess I could tell you, but you have to promise not to tell anyone."

The excited rubbing of his hands didn't encourage her, much. "Oh, a secret. Ahem, yes, I promise on...let's see, ah yes, I promise on our friendship that I won't tell a soul."

"...our friendship?"

Tobey turned away before blushing. "I mean, we are friends, right? I mean, you wouldn't just cry on anyone's shoulder, would you?"

Now Becky had turned away to keep him from seeing her blush. "Heh, well, I guess not."

They stayed like this for a few moments before they heard a car honking. Tobey looked up and saw Tim's car sitting at the park entrance.

"And there's your father. And I really wanted to hear this secret of yours."

They both stood up and headed to the car. "I promise, I'll tell you where your mom took me last week. It helped me a lot more than I thought it would."

Tobey opened the back door for his friend. "I'm looking forward to hearing this story."

"Hey, kids," greeted Tim. "Are you two ready?"

"That depends, Mr. Botsford," answered Tobey as they fastened their seatbelts. "What are we doing?"

"You'll see," he smirked as he drove off.

(B-D)

 _Later, after a short drive to the ice cream shop..._

Tim parked the car and went to a familiar ice cream shop. Both kids remembered this place where they had ice cream together while she was Wordgirl. And maybe that time when they had to clean up the library back in elementary school? Her memory of that was a bit fuzzy. Anyway, they were surprised to see that Claire had already claimed a table for them. Exchanging confused looks, the kids sat on one side as Tim sat uncomfortably close to Claire.

"Hello, Tobey, Becky," greeted Claire.

"Hi mum/Claire" said the kids. Tobey shot a quick eye toward Becky. First name basis? That's what her dad was trying to get him to do. Something was afoot.

"So, what would you two like?" asked Tim. Something was nagging Tobey like the devil.

"I'd like to know why we're here."

"Tobey," hissed Becky, although she was also burning with curiosity about that very subject.

The adults shared a glance that confused and troubled the children present.

"Well," started Claire, "we were planning on discussing this after ice cream, but we wanted to ask you two something very important."

The kids again exchanged confused looks. Becky shrugged, defaulting to Tobey as he had already made the first move.

"Go ahead. It's not like you're going to ask us for permission to date or something."

Becky gasped, mortified at the thought. Where the heck did that come from? And why did Tobey suddenly go pale. She looked toward the adults and quickly discovered why.

"Wow, Tobey," said Tim, hand behind his head. "I'm amazed you saw through that. Claire and I have been talking, a lot, and after a lot of thinking we've decided to give it a shot." He put his hand on Claire's.

"But we wanted to make sure that you two would be okay with your parents dating each other," finished Claire. "I've grown rather fond of your father, Becky."

"And your mom has helped me through the toughest time of my life, Tobey. We've been good friends for years, but the past few weeks, whoa, man. What an emotional rollercoaster."

Becky could only sit there in shock, her jaw hanging open. Her dad, dating? With Tobey's mom! Seriously? What with her figuring out her secret and letting her talk with Wham...John, she thought it was just them, but Claire...with her DAD? She shivered involuntarily, really not liking where this was going. Didn't they just lose her mom not even a month ago? How could he be into dating already? What the heck?

Hearing the chair next to her fall to the ground snapped her out of her stupor as Tobey stood. He was yelling! She had never seen him lose his temper so completely, neither as Becky nor as Wordgirl. Did he say something about his own dad? Wait, is he cursing? She covered her mouth with a gasp. Yeah, she was upset, but even she knew better than to use THOSE words, out loud, anyway. She was finally able to tune into what he was actually saying.

"...could you do this? Ahg, how could you betray me like this?"

He ran off crying. She could only stare in the direction he went when Tim stood up. He turned to go after Tobey, but Claire stood and took his hand, stopping him. He gave her a questioning look when suddenly the ground shook. It was short-lived, but soon it happened again, this time with a whirring sound wafting in the air. It soon became apparent that it wasn't an earthquake, but something giant walking nearby. It didn't take a genius to figure out what the cause was. Becky checked her surroundings before catching Claire and Tim's eyes. They both gave her a nod, then looked at each other questioningly.

"WORD UP!"

In a bright flash not seen in weeks, Wordgirl appeared and flew off to face the incoming danger. The two adults looked at each other in astonishment.

"You knew?" they yelled, pointing at each other.

(B-D)

She couldn't believe her eyes. There seemed to be a giant robot next to every building in the city, and even more were coming from the outskirts of town. When in the world did Tobey have the time or need to the build this...this invasion force? Wordgirl knew that she had to find Tobey quickly before there was too much damage. This looked near impossible without Huggy, but she couldn't just give up. Besides, she knew that this was a tantrum. Once she found him and calmed him down...whoa, was she seeing things or did things just slow down for a second? Time to go to work.

She went for the most direct approach, through the heads or antennae of the robots, trying to disable them as she searched for the boy inventor. Again she saw some kind of distortion in the air before she went through it. It felt like flying through molasses, and when she exited it, the robots seemed to have moved faster than they should have for a moment. What was going on? After another two distortions and many disabled robots behind her, she finally found the source of the disturbances. It was a short, round, yellow clock-shaped robot on the roof of a random building. It was wondering about the rooftop before it would stop, squat, pulse its distortion, then continue wondering.

"I remember that one. Didn't Tobey build that to stop time or something?"

"Alas, I didn't have the ability to pull that off back then," said a monotone voice off to her side. She turned, finally facing Tobey. "I did manage to get it to disrupt time a little, but that's as far as I got before moving on."

Wordgirl didn't like this. Normally he'd at least show some emotion when he saw her, especially after what he had told her earlier that day. Now he just seemed to just be there, no emotion at all.

"Tobey, what are you doing?"

He looked up to her with dead eyes. She wasn't even sure he was looking at her at the moment.

"My life is forfeit," he replied with a shrug, "so I may as well go out with a bang."

"What?"

"I'm going out with one last hurrah," said Tobey, a little more feeling in his voice. His eyes narrowed as he brought up his remote. He smiled, but there was no joy, no mirth. There was only madness. "Let's see if you can keep up."

She couldn't reach him before he hit that red button. Every robot in her visual range sprang to life and herded themselves to their location. She took a breath as she focused. If Huggy were here, she'd do plan 578, or even 227, but she was solo, now. How dare he? They were just getting along and now this? She felt a large hand try to grab her, but she dodged. Anger burned inside for the first time this week, but not because of the tragic events of the past, but for trying to prevent a tragic events of the present.

"Don't you dare hurt anybody, Tobey," she ground through her teeth.

It was strange, being angry with him, but what was stranger was the mix of the maniacal smile and the emotional deadness in his eyes that really worried her. It finally clicked. It was the Whammer all over again. He wasn't in his right mind at all. Their parents dropped an emotional bomb on them and it triggered this response. See, THAT'S how the word is used. A giant fist to the upper torso snapped her out of her thoughts as she barely recovered in time to dodge another large fist. Maybe this is a blessing in disguise. Perhaps it was time to take a page from Tobey's book and try some destruction therapy.

Wordgirl smirked, causing Tobey to pause for a moment. "Alright, Tobey, if that's how you want to do this, let's dance."

Tobey was stunned when she rocketed down to his Chronos robot and landed a leaping uppercut to its clock face. He thought it would merely be knocked out, but instead it flew off into orbit in pieces. Wordgirl turned around and launched another two robots into the bay. He quickly realized that she wasn't pulling her punches anymore. He frantically started to enter commands, directing his invasion-sized robot army. "ROBUTS ATTACK!" Wave after wave of robots came at her, limbs swinging in all directions. Some managed to hit her, but she gave back twice as much. Soon another special robot made its appearance. The gold-plated super robot. It stood twice as tall as the others, was made of a stronger alloy, and was faster than most. It lasted about three minutes, even with help. Without her calling out her battle plans, it was a more difficult battle to wage on Tobey's part. Yes, he still remembered almost all of her attack plans, but as the battle waged on he realized that she was hardly using any of them. In fact, it seemed that she was just wailing on them, pummeling them using sheer anger-fueled strength instead of tactics. She'd also gotten stronger, too. She couldn't do much damage to the super robot last time, but now she was tearing it to shreds. His eye widened. Perhaps he should've tried a different way to vent out his anger at his mother. He shrugged. It didn't matter anymore. He started it, and by whatever gods were watching he was going to finish this.

The next wave of robots fell upon the heroine, and again she plowed through without mercy. She took a moment to adjust her gloves when she saw an old wound to her past pride. The giant robot mouse, or Mouszilla as she remembered Tobey and Dr. Two Brains calling it. On its left was a more recent robot that he had built, called Gygus. It stood about the same height as Mousezilla and shared its gray color scheme with the rest of Tobey's robot line. What made this one unique, however, was that it had four arms and used hovering technology to maneuver. Tobey had somehow managed to imitate the Whammer's sonic attacks that it would shoot from its four palms. Wordgirl cracked her knuckles with a grin. She knew exactly where these two were going.

Tobey saw that two of his stronger robots had tag teamed the hero. One had super defense, the other had super offense. Those sonic attacks were not to be handled lightly. He found himself blinded by a flash of light as Wordgirl managed to get underneath Mousezilla and trip it into Gygus' arms, which were now wrapped and tangled around Mousezilla, she picked them both up, much to Tobey's astonishment. She began to spin faster and faster, knocking down a few more nearby robots, until she finally released them, hurling them into the sun. He stood there, mouth agape. He had seen her do that with the regular robots years ago, but those two? Since when had she become THAT strong? He turned his attention to the rest of his robots, or at least, they used to be robots. Wordgirl floated slowly toward him over the streets covered in robot parts. He took a step back, realizing that she had managed to defeat his robot army. Sighing in defeat, he turned to give himself up to Wordgirl, but stopped short. She was a mess, of course. She had tears in her uniform and her helmet had a few small cracks in it. It was an impressive feat to cause battle damage to that uniform. Despite the helmet one cold tell that her hair was also messed up. Her gloves were now fingerless, but thank goodness all of her fingers were accounted for. It was the look on her face that caught him by surprise. She was breathing heavily, as to be expected, and she was glancing about, waiting for her next opponent to leap out at her. The surprise was that she was almost laughing, like she had just enjoy herself destroying his creations, and she had a disturbingly wild look in her eyes. She was excited, the adrenaline pumping through her. It seemed like she had just let herself go in that battle. She seemed almost disappointed when she realized that there weren't any more robots to fight. She finally reached him and slowly took the remote, crushing it once it was clear of his hand.

"No more, Tobey?" she purred.

"Um...ah...heh, wow," he started as he searched for an escape route. "You sure went through those robuts a lot faster than I expected. Good job, Wordgirl. I'll just be leaving now..."

"Oh yeah," she said as she hovered toward him, a sinister smile adorning her face. "You're leaving, alright."

"Um, Wordgirl? What are you doing?"

"Oh I'm not done, yet," she said grimly. "It's time to finish this." Tobey's eyes widened on hearing this. He tried to turn and run, but she grabbed him before he could take his second step and flew off with him as he screamed.

"MMOOOOOOOOOMMMMYYYYY!"

(B-D)

A/N: Just a note about the Whammer's "real name." While researching Whammer I found that there was no official alter-ego for this character, so I did the next best thing. I used his voice actor's name, John McGinley. I was pleseantly surprised how well that worked out. Read and review. I'll have the next chapter up in a couple of weeks. Just 2 chapters left.


	8. Exposure and Revelation

Chp 8 - Exposure and Revelation

 _Last time, on Wordgirl, Tobey and Becky just had an emotional bomb dropped on them as their parents announced that they would be dating each other. Becky was abashed at the very thought, never mind the reality of the situation. Tobey, on the other hand, had a much more indignant reaction. His outburst resulted in him bringing out every robot he had and sent them all on a rampage throughout the city. Wordgirl managed to defeat his army of robots, but it came at a cost._

 ***Flashback**

 **"No more, Tobey?" she purred.**

 **"Um...ah...heh, wow," he started as he searched for an escape route. "You sure went through those robuts a lot faster than I thought. Good job, Wordgirl. I'll just be leaving now..."**

 **"Oh yeah," she said as she hovered toward him, a sinister smile adorning her face. "You're leaving, alright."**

 **"Um, Wordgirl? What are you doing?"**

 **"Oh I'm not done, yet," she said grimly. "It's time to finish this." Tobey's eyes widened on hearing this. He tried to turn and run, but she grabbed him before he could take his second step and flew off with him as he screamed.**

 **"MMOOOOOOOOOMMMMYYYYY!"**

 **End flashback***

"Did you really have to leave that last part in?" asked a frightened yet annoyed Tobey, still being carried by Wordgirl.

 _Sorry, it was too good to leave out._

Tobey grumbled before remembering his predicament. Wordgirl noticed him struggling again as they tore through the sky.

"Fine, if you want me to drop you now, just keep struggling." She looked down and smiled. "Don't worry. This'll be over soon enough."

Tobey dared not look up to see what kind of smile she had. It was obvious in her voice, but he was still afraid of that smile he saw before she picked him up. This was exactly what the Villains Association was afraid of. His thoughtless actions have sealed his doom, at the hands of the girl he loved, no less. His previous apathy to dying was now completely replaced with a strong desire to live. He knew he needed a plan, but was now out of time as he found himself seated on the ground. He glanced about, trying to get a fix on where he was, only to be shocked to find them on his home's front porch.

"What? Here?" he yelled, his indignation temporarily replacing his fear. "You're going to finish me off here? Why would you do that to my mother?"

He stood there, huffing as he waited for an answer. He was not expecting a giggle, though. He was about to start yelling again when he heard that adorable snort peek through her giggles, causing him to pause. He finally looked her in the eye to find her trying not to laugh. She failed to hold it in when she saw his face. Tobey was again taken aback, but this time because her laugh was her normal one.

"Um, what?" He scratched his head. "Weren't you going crazy just a few minutes ago?"

She calmed her laugh as much as she could. "Can...we go...inside, first?"

Tobey raised an eyebrow before opening the door, allowing her to enter the house first. Once inside he was able to compose himself enough to notice that Wordgirl seemed to be acting as her normal self again. Did the battle lust wear off or something? Well, if he was going to die, he may as well enjoy his final moments while he could.

"Would you like something to drink?"

"Just some water, please...actually could you put ice in that?"

"Of course."

Tobey entered the kitchen to prepare two glasses of ice water as Wordgirl found herself a spot on the couch, making sure not to get any smudges on it. They each finally had a chance to pull themselves together.

Tobey returned to the living room and handed her the glass before taking a seat next to her on the couch. After a few large gulps she exhaled in relief. Hurling giant robots into the sun was thirsty work. After another few moment of silence, Wordgirl finally spoke.

"Sorry about that, Tobey."

Several possibilities played through Tobey's mind, but this was far better than what he had dared to hope.

"I'll accept that apology if I can also get an explanation as to what the heck happened back there?"

She giggled again. "Sure thing, but I'm going to need one for why you went on a rampage, too." He nodded in agreement. "Alright, then I'll cut to the chase. When I saw just how many robots there were, I was really worried. You've never brought out THAT many, before. But after the first couple of robots, I realized that I had been wanting...no, needing to hit something since the bridge incident. I'm certain that your mom told you what I almost did?" He nodded. "Well, I hate to say it, but I've been reliving that moment for weeks, and every time I think about it, I know that if your mother wasn't there, I would have killed him."

Tobey stared at her. He knew that she had it rough that day, but to hear her admit such a thing only made it more real to him. Would he have had the presence of mind to do what his mom did?

"I've had this pent up aggression in my system for weeks, and as I fought your first few robots I discovered that this was a blessing in disguise. I was in desperate need of some destruction therapy, and you provided it for me. I have to admit, I now see why you used it before."

"Yes, well it does help from time to time." Well, he'd been waiting for this moment for a long time. "However, if you ever feel that way again, feel free to come and talk to me. I think I can come up with something of an outlet for you."

Wordgirl was touched. It was nice to see his concern earlier, but here he was, actually following through, and she couldn't sense an ulterior motive this time.

"Thanks Tobey. I won't forget that."

"I'm glad to hear that. Now what was with that act after you defeated my robuts?"

"Yeah, that. While I was fighting your super robot, I noticed Mr. Big watching from his building nearby. I had a feeling that he might be planning something if he saw that I had recovered from before. I think I saw another villain watching me, too, but I lost track of him during the battle. Anyway, I decided to use a ploy."

"A ploy?"

"Yes, well, more like a ruse. You see, I just over-acted out how I felt at the time. I've never just let myself go like that, before. It was exhilarating, but not something I really want to do too much. I prefer words to fists."

"No argument here."

"So I pretended to be stuck in a battle lust, and just played the part of a crazed maniac...or at least I tried to. I'd never tried that before."

"So in essence you pranked me?" he said indignantly.

She giggled again. "Yeah, I guess I did."

Tobey pouted for a moment and turned, as his pout quickly turned into a smile. It was a perfect prank as no one would suspect her to do such a thing, nor the reason behind it. There was also the fact that she was comfortable enough to even pull that on him. He faced her, giving her a stern look. "Wordgirl, that was diabolical." He couldn't hold back his smirk anymore. "If I hadn't known you for such a long time, I wouldn't have thought that you had it in you."

"Hey, I can't reveal all of my tricks, now can I?"

"True, true."

They fell into another silence as he finished processing getting pranked by Wordgirl.

"So, Tobey, why did you set all your robots on a rampage today? I distinctly remember you promising not to do that unless you had a really good reason."

He hung his head at this, even though he did have a good reason this time. It was time to come clean.

"Well, believe it or not, I did have a good reason for doing that. It's because of my mum."

Wordgirl gasped. "You mom? What happened?" She hated playing ignorant, but she had to keep up appearances.

"Nothing horrible, I think. After school she meet with me, my friend, and her father so we could talk. They said that they wanted to ask us something. I made a snide remark about how it's not like they were going to date," this word came out with dripping disgust, "but to my infinite horror I had accidentally hit the nail on the head. My mum, dating? She hadn't even considered...dating since, **that** day..." he stared off again, his fists shaking slightly at his sides.

Wordgirl saw his emotion. It was painfully obvious that he was in a flashback. So this was why he went off as much as he did. She knew this may get messy, but she had a friend to help. Besides, it was payback time for a few weeks ago. Time to dive in.

"What happened that day?"

Tobey snapped back to present when he heard the question. He had never told anyone about it, and only sporadically even mentioned it around his mom. Wordgirl, however, seemed to have taken an interest in his life, his story. He hated to even think about it, but this was Wordgirl who asked. He found himself wanting, no, needing to tell her about it. He'd already made some huge strides with her, today. Might as well go all in and take a dive into this rabbit hole.

"You'll be the first after mum that will know about this. I was maybe six years old when it happened. Although I was an only child, my family was whole. Mum was working her way through the Justice department, and my...father was somewhat of a recluse, always in his workshop doing who knows what. I had finally managed to get myself in there to discover that he was building robuts. I was instantly fascinated by them, and he reluctantly showed me a few things about making them. Imagine his surprise when I came back to him a couple of weeks later with a small robut built by me. It wasn't fully functional, but it was enough for him to shed a tear of pride. That's when he began to teach me how to use his tools, how to properly design parts, everything there was to know about building robuts. I absorbed every bit of knowledge he gave me. I was in heaven. One day he started to act differently. I didn't know why, exactly, but he and mother had begun to argue. At one point I spent the night is the workshop just to get away from the yelling. After that, father told me to pack a bag for a trip. I was ecstatic, of course. It wasn't until we were leaving the house through the back door when we ran into mother waiting for us outside." he sighed. "And I had thought the yelling before was loud, but the two were in each other's faces about it. Looking back I can see why, considering he was trying to kidnap me." Wordgirl gasped at this. This explained so much. "That's when he did the unforgivable. You see, my father was a man of science, and as such didn't do much with his body. You've seen my mother. I don't know where she gets all that mass and still manage to look good, but I assure you, she is no pushover in the slightest. Even now I have no idea what made him think that hitting her would win the day, but that's what he did. Of course mother was shocked, but as soon as he made to grab me...well, let's just say he was lucky to get away without anything broken...anything major, that is.

"I would later learn that he had accepted a job with the military for developing their robotics program. Mother didn't like the fact that they would be weapons, and she especially didn't like the idea of her son being a part of the program. I hated the fact that he hit my mother and left us. I wanted to destroy his lab, but I couldn't do it. I tried hating robotics as well, but my talent in the field was too great to simply throw away, so I did the next best thing. I would simply outdo him. I would show him what he left behind, the talent he could've cultivated," he made a fist, "and make him regret to ever choosing his job over his family."

He stood there, fist shaking against his father, where ever he may be, and yet he didn't feel as much anger as he thought he would. Normally he would be enraged by now, but instead he felt exposed, yet at the same time safe.

"You know," Wordgirl finally spoke, "the way you talk about your father reminds me of how I thought of the Whammer."

Tobey sat back, startled by the comparison. He thought about it more, though, and found what she was talking about. "I guess that's a fair comparison. While he didn't kill anyone, he did destroy my family."

"And you haven't talked to anyone about this?"

He looked away, years of emotion trying to push the tears out of him. "Well, only to mother, but it's a very sensitive subject."

He would've said more, but he soon found himself pulled up and enveloped into a hug. He was about to struggle when he remembered exactly who was hugging him.

"I'm so sorry about what your father tried to do, but you can't let this fester inside you anymore. I've recently come to terms with losing some very important people to me, but you haven't. You are not weak for feeling the way you do, but I've found that sometimes it's best to simply let it out. Let me be here for you."

Tobey stood still as he thought about her words. This was very similar to what he had done for Becky for several weeks. It did take a while, but she did seem much better. He felt his frustration grow within, the sadness and bitterness. He had held it in for so long that it had become automatic to relentlessly stamp it down, but he had an invitation to do what he thought he couldn't. Perhaps, just this once, he would not stamp it down but instead let it out. He fiercely held onto Wordgirl as years of pain and anguish flowed from his soul. He had vowed never to be weak enough to show this to anyone, but it was her that allowed him to be himself for once. It was only for a few minutes, then he finally loosened his hug so he could look her in the eye.

"Heh," *sniff* "Sorry about that. Something just came over me."

"Your secret is safe with me."

He nodded, grateful for the privacy. He placed his head on her shoulder again as a few straggling tears emerged. Much to his relief, she allowed it. He found it hard to believe how he was feeling at that moment. He felt lighter than ever before, especially after what he just relived. Was this how Becky felt when he let her cry on him like this? Was this how friends made each other feel? He wasn't going to turn into a crier, but he at least found its purpose. He also found that he really wouldn't mind doing this again if need be, provided that this was the shoulder he used, that is.

He slightly pulled away again to face her, staring into her eyes. He was pleased to find that she was doing the same. He wanted to say something, but he found himself completely lost in her eyes. He had never been so close as to see an actual twinkle in her eye. Was that always there. Their faces were mere inches apart, and he still felt the warmth from Wordgirl's body as they hadn't let go of each other, yet. His eyes were about to close when he felt a finger on his lips.

"You're not about to take advantage of this, are you?" she asked coyly.

He blinked a few times before catching on to her meaning. "I would never," he said softly, "but could you really blame me if I tried?"

She glanced to the side with a blush before floating high enough to give him a quick kiss on the forehead.

"Don't push it," she said with a smile, playfully ruffling his hair as she returned to the couch, leaving a bright red Tobey standing there trying to fix his hair and glasses.

"Well," he said after setting himself straight again, "it was worth a shot."

Wordgirl just hummed at him as he sat next to her again, leaving more space between them then she wanted. Wordgirl was wondering what she had done just then. That was close, but why did she do that? Things were complicated enough already. Speaking of which...

"So are you afraid that if your mom does end up with this man, that he might do the same to you?"

Tobey laughed this time. "Ha! That's hilarious. Mr. Botsford a deadbeat dad? That's like calling Nicola Tesla an idiot."

Curse these appearances, forcing her to act ignorant. "Mr. Botsford? You mean Becky's dad? And your mom?"

"Absurd, I know, but still true. In fact, that's why I went on that rampage earlier."

"Because your mom wanted to date someone?"

"Look, I'm quite happy with how my life is at present. How could I even think of how to handle a man like Mr. Botsford?"

She shrunk into herself a little as she asked, "Are they really that bad?"

Tobey stood, aghast. "What? Heavens, no!" She relaxed a little at his vehement denial. "Mr. Botsford is one of the happiest people I know. His entire family was just a simmering pot of joy that was ready to infect anyone near them with the same happiness and joy that they had."

"Then I'm not quite seeing the problem, here."

"Look, I have nothing against Mr. Botsford, but if we take things to their logical conclusion and they decide to marry..." they both shivered, lucky for her he didn't notice, "not only would I have a new father, but I'd also have a new sibling as well."

"And what's wrong with Becky?" Wordgirl asked with a little more venom then she had intended.

"There's nothing 'wrong' with her. In fact, she's been one of my few friends outside of the villains, and a close one at that. Lately we've gotten a good bit closer than I'd like, I needn't remind you as to why, but I soon found that I didn't mind it so much. It's just..." he sat down, sighing.

Wordgirl scooted closer to him and put her hand on his shoulder. "Just what?"

Tobey sat for a moment before answering. The last thing he wanted to do was to voice his thoughts on this, as it was buried deeper that his memories of his father, but he found that he couldn't stop himself with Wordgirl actually being concerned for him.

"I'm afraid of how much my life would change." He then looked her in the eye. "I'd even have to quit being a villain."

That caught Wordgirl by surprise. "Wh...why?"

"I think, I guess I just don't want to disappoint her." He looked up to see Wordgirl on the verge of crying, but he couldn't stop verbalizing his last thought. "In all honesty, if it weren't for you, I probably would've eventually fallen for her instead."

(B-D)

A/N: So next chapter is the last chapter of the story. It'll be out in two weeks. I hope you enjoyed this ride. These last two chapters were the reason why I wrote this story in the first place. This scene was just stuck in my head and I had to get it out, thus ending a 4 year writing drought. Anyway, R&R and all that.


	9. Trustworthiness and Complication

Chp 9 - Trustworthiness and Complication

 _Last time...oh, man Tobey dropped a bomb on us. I can't even...just watch the flashback._

 ***Flashback**

 **"I'm afraid of how much my life would change." He then looked her in the eye. "I'd even have to quit being a villain."**

 **That caught Wordgirl by surprise. "Wh...why?"**

 **"I think, I guess I just don't want to disappoint her." He looked up to see Wordgirl on the verge of crying, but he couldn't stop his last thought. "In all honesty, if it weren't for you, I probably would've eventually fallen for her instead."**

 **End flashback***

Tobey had recently learned that if a girl was crying on you that she needed support, comforting words, and maybe a back-patting hug. Everything else would pretty much works itself out. This was not one of those scenarios. He had just revealed a deep truth that he had buried as thoroughly as he could, but somehow he just came out and told the girl that he loved that he could've fallen in love with someone else instead, and this brought her to tears of joy? And in addition to that she was hugging him again. He would be pumping his fist in accomplishment if he wasn't so confused as to how he got to this point.

"Um, Wordgirl?"

"Did you really mean that?"

"If you mean by what I had just said, then unfortunately yes. Please don't tell Becky."

Wordgirl was a very secretive person, by necessity. If people knew who she was, it would be trouble to her and her family, but things have changed. Two more people have joined the "Knowing Her Identity" club, bringing the total of living members to six. However, most of them found out by accident. Only the adults had truly connected the dots (she still couldn't believe she did that with her laundry). Could she, maybe put her trust in someone this time?

Wordgirl detached herself from the confused boy. She had stopped trying to remove the smile that embellish her face.

"Even the part about being a villain?"

Tobey hesitated. "Well, until today I haven't been much of a menace to society, and in all honestly without you being involved it does get rather boring. Perhaps it was a phase. The possible new family dynamic would certainly curtail any robut rampaging. Who knows what that man would bring to my household?"

Wordgirl nodded, then smiled. "Don't worry, Tobey. I won't tell Becky."

"Thanks," he said, relieved.

She started poking her index fingers together nervously, causing Tobey to pause.

"...but she kinda already knows."

Tobey started to panic. "What? How? I've said nothing of the sort to her! How could she have figured it out?"

She took a breath. It was all or nothing, now. "Because you already told her."

He looked at Wordgirl in complete hysteria. "WHAT?! I did not! The only person I ever told was youuuwwwwwhhaaaaaaa..."

His last word drawled out as his mouth went slack right as she removed her helmet. "I mean, if you're willing to give up being a villain to not disappoint me, then I should be willing to trust you after all, right?"

Tobey ceased to function. He was completely unable to process coherent thought. One could almost see an error message scrolling across his eyes. So broken was he that breathing was forgotten, his heart literally stopped, if but for a moment. Finally he slowly began to reboot his bodily systems, his brain being the final thing coming back online.

"Y...you...her...but I...how...you? YOU!" He at last regained some portion of thought. "You, Becky, Wordgirl? I...missed...how? Becky, Wordgirl, same, I knew but didn't..."

Becky watched Tobey start to pace, only broken thoughts streaming from his mouth.

"Um, Tobey? Are you alright?" He continued pacing the living room, not noticing her question. "Did I break him?"

Tobey stopped, looking down, before his laugh became audible. It grew and grew until it became full on maniacal. Becky was concerned as even as he laughed there were tears coming from his eyes. He suddenly rushed her, grabbing her arms, knocking her helmet out of her arm, and he stared at her face. She couldn't discern the look in his eyes, but she could tell that he was slowly coming back to his senses. He gently let go as he fell back onto the couch, still laughing with tears in his eyes.

"Oh, this! This is just perfect!" He laughed, or cried. She couldn't really tell which at the moment. "I've been in love with the girl I'd despised for years, only to end up falling for her twice, at the same time! How on earth such a thing is even possible is astounding, but Becky and Wordgirl being one and the same? Heh, now that I know, I just can't believe I was right all along."

"Are you OK?"

"All this time, I've had Wordgirl crying on my shoulder. All this time I've been growing closer to Becky. All this time I was concerned that Wordgirl wouldn't have time for me, when in fact she was with me almost every day." He sobered quickly. "And to think, you allowed me to know."

"I figured that you earned the right to know," she said, unconsciously rubbing her left arm. "I mean, it's tough to admit, but I don't think I could've gotten through this month without you."

"I...I'm...oh my, I believe you've once again struck me speechless."

Becky giggled as she closed the distance between them, giving him another hug.

"You've been there for me in my darkest hour. I'm glad that I could be here for you, too."

Tobey returned her hug. "And I'm even more glad that I could be there for you."

They found themselves again staring into each other's eyes, and this time they both heard a whirring sound by the stairs. They blinked and looked toward the noise. Two of Tobey's robots had come down together, ignoring everything around them. They recognized both robots. Robo-Tobey, the robot double he had built years ago to substitute for him in athletic events, was holding and hugging a robot copy of Wordgirl, known as Wordbot. Wordbot's head was nestled on Robo-Tobey's shoulder as they made their way downstairs. The human pair stared at the staircase until the robots were out of sight.

"...what the?" was Becky's response.

"Um, yeah," said Tobey, dropping his British accent for a moment while absentmindedly releasing Becky. "Wordbot returned to my workshop last night and saw my Robo-Tobey as I had reactivated it for maintenance. Her original programming kicked in and they've been devoted to each other ever since. I guess she never had a chance to save her last reprogramming before going offline." He looked back at Becky, still wearing her hero uniform but without the helmet. He backed away and again fell onto the couch.

Becky was still in shock. "But, Wordbot was at my hideout in...storage." She didn't want to tell him that she had kept it as a trophy. "How did she come back here? Her battery was completely drained."

"Well," regaining his accent, "I do make a backup solar battery for my stronger robuts for longer operation."

"Uh, I guess that would explain this."

"Yeah," answered Tobey as Becky sat on the couch near him, but not close enough in his mind. They sat there for a few minutes in silence.

"You know," said Tobey, "that could've been us."

Becky hesitated a moment before she sighed. "Yeah, it could have."

Tobey was surprised at this. Sure, they had gotten VERY close today, but for her to admit that they could've been like their robot counterparts? Now he began to get frustrated. He forcibly threw himself backward on the couch. "Good Lord, how is this going to work?"

Becky raised an eyebrow. "How could it not?"

He placed his arm over his eyes, having already removed his glasses. "How could this possibly work if we're siblings?"

Now Becky was dumbstruck. She flashed back to that part of the conversation about their parents dating. She laid herself on the couch as well, opposite of Tobey yet mimicking his position. "This is too much."

There was a knock at the door, jolting the twelve-year-olds from the couch.

"Get the door, Tobey," whispered Becky.

"You're still Wordgirl, Becky," he quietly yelled back as he made his way to the door. He stopped, mouth agape as she transformed herself back into Becky Botsford. He blinked before shaking his head and answered the door.

Before him stood Tim and Claire, holding hands with matching faces filled with concern.

"Are you two alright?" asked Tim as they came in.

The kids shared a look, then nodded to the adults.

"I'm so glad to hear that," said Claire. "I was worried when I saw you bring out almost every robot in your collection."

"And it took us forever to get here through the mess," added Tim.

"I'm sorry, mother, Mr. Botsford," apologized Tobey. "I really didn't take your news very well. Fortunately Wordgirl was able to calm me down, after defeating my robuts, that is. She left a while ago, and Becky just arrived a few minutes before you did."

The adults shared a look before entering the living room.

"Well, I'm glad she was able to help you, Tobey," said his mother. "At least now I can explain why the new District Attorney's son went on a robot rampage for the first time in months."

"Sorry, mother," he said again, head hung low.

Tim signaled Claire from behind the couch before coming around to pat the boy on the back.

"Cheer up, Tobey. You'll get through this like you always have, and Becky and I will be there for you. Right Becky?" He winked at his daughter.

"Um, yeah," she agreed. "We'll be there for you."

Tobey rubbed the back of his head, surely not used to receiving encouragement after a robot outburst.

Claire then turned to Becky.

"And you, young lady. Thank you for helping Tobey. I know it's rough for you," Claire reached behind the couch and handed her the forgotten helmet, "but you may want to put away your things when you're done with them." Both kids eyes went wide. "So, you told him?" she asked. Becky could only nod numbly. Tobey's jaw dropped. "I'm glad to see that he's earned your trust." She pulled both kids into a big bear hug. "I'm so proud of both of you."

"Yeah," said Tim as he joined the group hug. "Thank goodness. Can you imagine how complicated things would be if we had to keep this from each other?"

Becky and Tobey could only look each other in the eye through Claire's hug. They both shared the same thought.

How could this possibly work?

(B-D)

End _The Definition of Life and Love_

A/N: That's all I had planned for this story. It really, and I mean REALLY got away from me as the characters ended up doing their own thing. I almost forgot how that tends to happen. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed what I think is a unique version of ToBecky, and I have one more thing to say.

This last scene was the main reason why I wrote this story. I've always been a believer in building up to the main event, thus why it took nine chapters to get to the point. I'm not sure how fanfic challenges work, but I'm going to lay this down anyway. How do you think this scenario can work itself out, if it can? Would Tim and Clair (TimClair? ClaTim?) get married, leaving ToBecky to pine away for each other for years? Would the kids try to sabotage their parents' relationship? Would life just make things not work out for one or both couples? How would you continue this story?

Just put "Scurman's challenge" in your summary to show that your vision takes off from where I left off. I'd love to see what you guys can do with this. And yes, I give you guys permission to continue this story on FFnet, just give credit where credit is due.

Thank you for joining me with this story, leave your reviews, check out my other stories, and live the good life.

Also, a big shout-out to the Wordgirl Wiki for the idea of the robo couple.


End file.
